#ok ko let's be heroes POINT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theromanticscrooge · 1 month

Text

Mr. Gar, a Fount of Masculinity and the Step Dad that Stepped Up

Mr. Gar is introduced as this stoic, gruff picture of manliness. The most promising up-and-coming heroes at the Plaza, Rad and Enid, work and train directly under him. Most Boxmore threats are small enough that Mr. Gar trusts Rad and Enid to handle things but when the stakes get a little too high, he parts the clouds themselves and enters the fray. He's a slightly mysterious, larger than life figure; the pinnacle of role models and exactly who K.O. aspires to be when he's older.

At the start of the series, viewers only see the stoic facade crack around Carol. He becomes an anxious, tongue-tied wreck. Its an achievement if he's able to string together anything close to a coherent sentence around her. The first hints viewers get about their history together are the Silver Spark portrait on Mr. Gar's desk and the sub sandwich flashbacks. Everyone is aware of how he feels about Carol and even ship them together to some degree. Carol wants to talk to him and reconnect, even when she has to take the initiative in general conversations. So, the question becomes what's actually stopping Mr. Gar here?

In the POINT flashbacks, the young Mr. Gar is the anxious, meek, tongue-tied luchador-themed hero El Bow. El Bow was very much a capable and talented hero. He was one of three hand-picked junior candidates to join the prestigious hero team POINT. Before that, he was known and highly respected for his lucha libre, as revealed and fangirled over by Punching Judy. Though these parts of his character are dramatically overshadowed by his seeming lack of confidence and self-esteem. The handful of screen time El Bow has are usually centered on how hard he's crushing on his coworker Silver Spark. He's so focused on drumming up the courage to confess his feelings that it takes a comment from Rippy for him to clock how obvious Silver and Laserblast are. Laser made a move the minute he met Silver. El Bow knew her long enough to develop a rapport and become close friends, but he was waiting for the 'perfect moment' to say something.

Because Laser and Silver were getting more serious, El Bow felt a 'now or never' compulsion to confess. During the three-man mission to discover what was going on with the donut shop, El Bow was focused on confessing over everything else. Seeing Laser flirt with Silver was agony. It was the final pin pull on the metaphorical grenade. The confession had to be now. El Bow still wasn't quite ready, hence the hemming and hawwing and stumbling over his words, but he finally had the momentum to follow through. He 'distracts' Silver long enough that she can't reach Laser in time. The donut shop gets sucked into a black hole. Laser is presumably dead. Silver and the entirety of POINT wrongfully blame El Bow for the tragic event, his friends ice him out, and he's unceremoniously dismissed from his position.

Another dimension to El Bow is his cultural identity as a masked wrestler. A luchador is traditionally part of an established family stable and has a legacy attached to their mask along with their title. Lucha libre typically features teams of three, too. In El Bow's case, his stand-in for the classic lucha team were Silver and Rippy. They're as much extended family as they are friends and teammates. When El Bow loses his mask, its a dramatic visual signifier for the death of both his identity and former life. That's why Mr. Gar deliberately refuses to go by that previous title and refers to it as something separate or other. He had to completely rebuild himself as well as the parts, pieces, and meaning of his life from the ground up.

Mr. Gar has a literal wanderer phase of his life where he walks aimlessly long enough his clothes get tattered and his hair grows into a long, unruly mass. He's lost and confused, but always stops along the way to help people in need. Even without POINT or El Bow, he became a hero because of an earnest desire to help others and stop bad guys. El Bow was just a moniker. The essence of who he was is still there; the new journey is figuring out what to do now and who he wants to become. Then Mr. Gar meets the President of the Universe and is assigned a new mission that aligns better with who he is and what he can do: protect the glorb tree and build a supply chain store for heroes.

The President of the Universe could be seen as a fun, campy stand-in for a person finding newfound purpose through religion. Or someone reconnecting with their spirituality in general. Sometimes, the parables, teaching, and morals connected to a religious practice or diving more into philosophy give a person that feels lost and directionless a good foundation for introspection. It can be a line thrown out to sea that guides them back to shore. Its a starting line that gives them the means to start exploring and learning about the more abstract part of 'what is life' that leads to growth, change, and hopefully, self improvement. Mr. Gar building the Plaza leads to him becoming the hero and legend of Mr. Gar. He's not attached to POINT. He lives and sustains a separate venture that promotes a more independent, self-discovery approach towards being a hero. There aren't concrete benchmarks or specific guidelines, but Mr. Gar gladly gives advice and presents a great space to help somebody figure out what direction works for them.

Enid in particular benefits from how much more open training at the Bodega is vs the more structured training and education at POINT. There's three particular classifications a POINT Prep student could be sorted into: logic, strength, or charisma. While the different areas overlap, there's still pressure to conform to titles like 'the smart one' or 'the charismatic one.' The charisma students, ala Elodie, are the most likely to be popular and well liked. In short, POINT Prep promotes and curates specific visions of what a hero should be like. With Mr. Gar, he pinpointed Enid and Rad's respective strengths and encourages their next moves or training based on what makes sense for them individually vs a strict, one-size-fits-few curriculum. Enid ultimately chooses Gar's Bodega over POINT Prep because his more free-form approach as a mentor is a better fit for her. She's still trying to figure out what kind of hero she is and wants to be. As it was, POINT Prep is a better match for someone that already knows who they are and what their ultimate goals are (hence why Elodie thrived in that environment).

While Mr. Gar eventually recreated himself, he still bottled up and buried El Bow, Laserblast, and POINT. He refuses to confront what happened and as a result, has stilted, awkward run-ins with Carol. Talking to Carol in a deeper, more meaningful way than "How are you?" means he has to unpack his guilt over Laserblast's demise. Carol has processed what happened, realized that if she had run in she might have 'died' along with Laser, and that she lost an important friendship. She learned to live with what happened, in large part to be an aware and active parent for K.O., and is trying to live as full and satisfying a life she can now. Yes Mr. Gar built the Bodega and became an impressive, respected figure in his own right, but part of him is stuck in the past on that horrible night.

In his mind, he might as well be the one that killed Laser instead of the black hole. The angry, upset Carol in the constantly rewound tape of his mind's eye is more tangible and immediate than Carol in reality. Mr. Gar is so scared that if he actually tries to talk to her, it would be an instant means to transport him back to that painful transition period between losing El Bow and who Mr. Gar is now. Its a weird balance: the tragedy rules his life to the point that it makes it difficult for Mr. Gar to be vulnerable but admitting it happened would supposedly shatter what peace and status quo Mr. Gar managed to achieve otherwise.

Traditionally, men are encouraged to ignore and bury trauma. Its presented as a simple obstacle that can be overcome with enough will power. Instead of the overcome by willpower tack, the dramatic slow-mo sandwich drop and ensuing story beat build towards similar 'talk things out' deconstruction that toons like Steven Universe regularly visit. One particular episode depicts Mr. Gar cowering at the sight of a younger Carol on a giant flying sub. It shows that Mr. Gar's attempts to ignore that particular event and the heavy emotions around it have been ineffective. He's a lot more self-confident and actualized. He can handle rude customers, tough bad guys, and most things that come his way, but brute force will not overcome trauma. Its something that haunts him like a ghost. Posing this as his greatest fear helps paint just how overwhelming trauma can be if not the importance of recognizing its effects on mental and emotional health period.

When Mr. Gar finally does talk to Carol, it's like opening a pressure valve. Its a release. Carol reassures him that he's not responsible for what happened with Laser and that she's sorry for blaming him. Hearing someone say this out loud, even if Mr. Gar had come to that conclusion himself, makes this concrete. Now he fully recognizes that the Carol in his mind is a projection; nowhere close to the present-day reality of the person he's talking to. After they finally talk, they start to reconcile, grow close again, and even start dating.

Their romance is a more in-the-background slow burn with the exception of the cute picnic date, but its rewarding to see play out. If anything, it shows that Mr. Gar is working through his trauma to the point that he has more meaningful and deep conversations with Carol. He trusts her enough to fully let his guard down and honestly let her in. Granted, it'd be nice to see a more detailed conversation between them about her still working for POINT in secret. Though, its not too much of a stretch that they built a strong enough foundation to work through that and fully talk things out later.

After working at the Bodega for awhile and Mr. Gar dating his mom, K.O. openly admits to Mr. Gar that he sees him as a father figure. At first, Mr. Gar looks baffled, but he ultimately decides to fill this role as best he can. Employing K.O. started as a favor to Carol. Through his general interactions and one-on-one time with the kid, he comes to care about him as much as his other pupils Rad and Enid. He recognizes the gravity of the role K.O. is asking him to fill. As far as they both know, K.O.'s bio-dad is dead, Carol's immediate friends and clients are other moms and older women, and Mr. Gar's pupils/adoptive family are pretty much K.O.'s older siblings anyway. K.O. is expressing his need for an older male role model; not just the ambiguous figure of Chip Damage he only ever gets cues from through TV appearances and action figures.

Mr. Gar is right there. He's reliable, he's a powerful hero, he's an enthusiastically Carol-approved symbol of masculinity. He's the picture of what K.O. wants to be like. The montage revealing that Mr. Gar and Carol started dating features happy, domestic scenes with Mr. Gar filling the role of 'dad' well enough that K.O. reflects on that with a smile. That particular scene with K.O. and Mr. Gar on the Bodega roof for a stake-out is the result most blended families hope for when a new parent enters the scene. The new parent, in this case Mr. Gar, has organically meshed with the existing family and carved out a spot that's unanimously accepted.

Considering how Mr. Gar is written and presented, he's an example of a positive masculine role model. He's tough, he's stern, and he kicks ass, but he's also patient and learning how important it is to be open and vulnerable. In the very last episode, its a mark of how much of an impact Mr. Gar had when an adult K.O. not only takes over the Bodega, but also his spot for an aerial attack from the clouds.

#ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko mr gar #ok ko el bow #ok ko character analysis #character analysis #character essay #ok ko let's be heroes POINT #point flashback #ok ko sandwich #ok ko the sandwich #theromancescrooge

13 notes · View notes

tortellinibeanieweenie · 10 months

Text

dancing husbands

#ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #professor venomous #lord boxman #ok ko lord boxman #ok ko professor venomous #ok ko fanart #fanart #art #they do their little dancey dance #and yes #boxman bonked venomous's head on the ground at some point #voxman

402 notes · View notes

scrawlingskribbles · 2 months

Text

Alrighty, welp, this is the closest I'm gonna get to having a Valentine's Day post this year, so... x3c

Some married dweebs for your soul~ ✨💜💚✨ (because it will never not amuse me the way Ven is apparently on the Exact right wavelength to just GetTM Boxman's questionable rizz somehow and I genuinely love that for the both of them lmao <3333)

#I Invoke The Law of Two Cakes #aka this meme HAS to have been done with these two at some point already but never by Me so here we are xD #OK KO #OK KO Let's Be Heroes #Voxman #you know I think this might be my first actual Voxman art that wasn't for an ask game w h a t HOW LMFAOOOO #ANYWAYS I need dinner lol #skribbles #shut up Wisp

119 notes · View notes

lowpolybread · 5 days

Text

“At least I think I do”

OK KO: Professor Venomous + “How to Be a Heartbreaker” by MARINA

29 notes · View notes

slushiebonez · 1 year

Text

Shoutout to the genre of character relationship that is Silly Little Guys Who Are Good Friends (And End Up In Dangerous Situations Together)

#bonus points if one of them has a weird evil dad that has ties to shadows/the occult and is/was presumed dead #*looks directly at atticus and professor venomous lol*#spooky month #spooky month skid #spooky month pump #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko #ok ko ko #ok ko dendy

240 notes · View notes

gayserblast · 1 year

Text

POINT! We are powerful operatives! POINT! And we're super cooperative! POINT! We investigate and neutralize every single trouble - ON THE DOUBLE!

POINT intro cards from 'Let's Take A Moment'

#my gifs #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko #ok ko point #idk what else to tag

120 notes · View notes

cbryyace · 8 months

Text

just watched Nimona, might whip up a new piece, so take this for now

silly point preppers bonding over being from lakewood

#ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko fanart #ok ko enid #me when theyre former point preppers #sparko

43 notes · View notes

bangoose · 6 months

Text

Everytime a ending of a openly queer show is rushed because of a network, I get down to the ground and become rabid like a dog

#ofmd #toh #steven universe #ok ko let's be heroes #?#okay tbh the point of this post is me yearning for all the plot we lost because the corporate said fuck you

23 notes · View notes

soukeyed · 2 years

Text

more boxmans. from tha past two weeks

#im so ill HELP MEEE #my art #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko lets be heroes #lord boxman #uhhhhhhhh #voxman #i guess #i think about the infectious disease lab post constantly btw.#ive drawn sm of non boxman characters but theyre so scattered im finding it stupid difficult to post #will mayb just throw them on twitter + dump here at some point #ok zzz bedtime

322 notes · View notes

dorkafricska · 2 years

Photo

original meme: x my works: insta

#meme #ok ko lets be heroes #ok ko fanart #laserbox #ok ko #laserblast #lad boxman #lord boxman #ok ko point #I think Laser and Lad have a meme dynamic #they're chaotic but differently than their future selves and I love it x)

413 notes · View notes

doctormori · 2 years

Photo

we love an emo alter ego B)

#just finished playing the game #really bummed that tko isnt rly in it #only a little #tbh at this point tho ill take anything i can get #drew this to cope LMAO #ok ko lets be heroes #ok ko tko #ok ko fanart #fanart #mori draws #prof venomous isnt in it AT ALL

174 notes · View notes

mooshie-blue · 4 months

Text

Redraw from 2019!!

#ok ko let’s be heroes #ok ko #ok ko foxtail #ok ko greyman #ok ko carol #ok ko mr gar #ok ko lazerblast #ok ko silverspark #ok ko elbow #ok ko point #mooshie art

15 notes · View notes

calciferous-kelpie · 9 months

Note

robots are immune to siren songs?

Great question! This is actually something I've had to give a lot of thought during my work on these comics! 🤔

Yes, some robots are not affected by siren songs, but this has more to do with sentience than it does with being inorganic.

Simple robots (those controlled remotely or given specific programming to follow) are immune to the effect of a siren's singing because they aren't technically alive in the same way humans and (many) animals are. BUT in the wonderful world of OK KO, there are sentient robots. The Boxbots are probably the best example of this, as they all have unique personalities, complex feelings, free will, and the ability to learn from their experiences. They have just as much personhood in the show as characters like KO, Rad, and Enid!

Therefore, any sentient robot with audio receptors can be influenced by siren songs. But because they are still robots, they have a unique advantage: they can be programmed with counter-measures. 🤖

#At this point you may be wondering: 'well can characters who can't hear be affected by siren songs?'#Nope! In most cases if you cannot hear a siren's voice you cannot be influenced #You'd probably still have to deal with the siren's effect on everyone else though so watch out #cal screeches #cal answers #anonymous #ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #siren theory #boxbots #the boxbots #darrell #shannon #raymond #ernesto #mikayla #jethro

8 notes · View notes

here-to-cause-suffering · 11 months

Text

OKAY SO GROUNDED SPOILERS AND ALSO OK KO SPOILERS BECAUSE YEAH

WARNINGS FOR THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

- Corprate neglect leading to death

—> Idea / Invention theft

- Death / Corpses

—> One corpse is heavily implied to have been severely mentally ill (the intern)

—> Mentions of stalking

- Experimentation (on both bugs and humans)

- Potentially other triggering subjects, if I missed one please let me know!

ANYWAY ON TO THE CORPSE TALK ITS A LONG RAMBLE AND IM NOT SORRY

also please feel free to send me any further questions about this

So it's known that there's several corpses in the game— most of which come from Ominent workers!

The Biomedical Engineer (Name: E. Ferrier) — Who was found in the Sandbox, chasing Tully. "The blundering scientist flees across the desert, and the rasined engineer follows!"

The Entomologist (Name: J.K.) — Found under the grill, and had been planning to bring fire back to the group.

The Compliance Officer (Name: A. Miller) — Found near a power outlet, and had been keeping track of the illegal things Ominent had been doing. She died climbing to see something closer.

The Intern (Name: Exhaulted Nugget B. Stava) The intern is known to have been sharing lunches with ants, and then slowly claiming himself to be the Ant King, and later on the Creator. This is actually my favorite corpse, as he seemingly knew he was going to pass away in his sleep. His last notes are pondering what the reader is doing, why they're small, and if things are any better in the tiny world. It's the only death to have made me and my friend actually think "Oh.. That's sad.." when we read the notes.

Special Forces Officer (Name: D. Reid) — was there to help protect the others and keep them alive in the yard while laying down the groundwork for Project O.R.C.

Toxicologist (Name: D. Spencer) — Died in a pond lab collapse, and hat deemed the Koi fish less dangerous than the intern for some reason.

Health And Safety Officer (Name: R. Weiner) — Died being stabbed in the neck by the Wasp Queen after attempting to chip her with an O.R.C. Receiver. They state that the bugs REALLY hate being chipped as well.

It's worth noting that few of them specifically died alone (the compliance officer, health and safety officer, the entomologist, the biomedical engineer, and the intern respectively) but some of them died in labs (specifically the Toxicologist and Special Forces Officer.) This is important because for the Toxicologist it's safe to assume other people were in the lab too, but couldn't be recovered amongst the wreckage. The others died on missions from Ominent, which typically related to stalking Wendell Tully or working on Project O.R.C. with the exception of the Intern, who they just abandoned and left to the ants. (Side note, the Entomologist had similar ideals to the Intern and disliked them splitting up!)

These are the known people who died. There are more deaths that are caused by Ominent. This is canon. They include an unknown number of missing teenagers— at least four. This is stated in the beginning of the game, but reinforced later on with the Milk Carton that shows the photos of four other, missing and presumably dead, teenagers.

They talk about how the enbiggening process is more dangerous and complicated then they realized, well, they had to find out somehow. They have to have experimented on someone. And do you know what happens when you do the enbiggening process wrong? You explode.

There's no direct body count for Ominent, though the count has to be over eleven (the amount of Ominent corpses, plus the known other missing teens) It's also worth noting that there are three unnamed corpses in the Red Ant Hill which could be the other missing teens— they have no Ominent items, but have Rotten Bee Armor instead. They could also be random shrunken people too.

There's also another corpse, or... corpses— if you count the many, many bugs, which is found near an Intern Note. In a cave, known as the Ant Totem Cave. This cave is full of ant heads stuck on sticks, an abandoned back pack, and one human skeleton stuck to a wall and arranged into a disgusting amalgamation combined with any parts. The ground is also covered in ant blood. It's safe to assume this is a teen, as they have an abandoned back pack.

This adds up to anywhere from eleven to fifteen known deaths caused by Ominent in some way, shape or form. This doesn't include the bugs that Ominent experimented on and killed as well. Or the fact that Ominent was going to terminate the main four kids in the game Grounded too, only for one scientist to throw them into the yard before they could.

You may ask: How does this play into the Grounded!AU?

Oh boy it. It doesn't go well for poor KO, TKO, Rad, Enid and Dendy. These corpses are still there, though due to being in a different universe their locations may be different! I haven't worked out where all the labs are exactly yet, as Boxmore isn't exactly the same as Tully's house (side note: I am thinking of having a Sewer Lab (maybe in place of the Pond Lab?) and still having a Haze and Hedge Labs somewhere else)

But during their adventures traversing the terrifying backyard / parking lot of Boxmore, and the various labs all suspiciously labeled POINT and POINTINENT, they come across the various corpses— taking their badges, notes and photos for clues as to what happened, and what led to them being small. This.. This really just becomes a normal thing for them, and they're mostly unfazed by the skeletal remains. At first it's shocking, but when you stumble upon your fifth corpse, most shock has already gone away— especially when you've killed things yourself.

Either way, they manage to use these to piece together that Pointinent is stalking Professor Venomous, as well as bits and pieces of what Project G.L.O.R.B. is and some of the experiments that had been performed on Ants, Spiders, Bombardier Beetles, Ladybirds etc. They learn what the G.L.O.R.B. Bugs are weak to, which helps them later on with the G.L.O.R.B. Soldiers... Maybe a little too well.

Regardless, Pointinent has caused more deaths than Ominent has— though the number isn't yet known, they are equally neglectful, if not more, with their own employees. Ignoring any morals they used to have in pursuit of their goals of tracking down Professor Venomous and being the strongest and best "heroes" while collaborating with Shadowy Figure.

9 notes · View notes

aus-full-of-suffering · 10 months

Text

HEY no one asked for this but I'm gonna talk about Project G.L.O.R.B. from the Grounded!AU !

Spoilers for Grounded and OK O: Let's Be Heroes and warning for the following topics !

Experimentation on bugs

Experimentation on people

A form of mind control, sort of

So: You may ask, what is Project G.L.O.R.B.? Well, it's a lot of things!

It starts with them experimenting on bugs, trying to figure out a G.L.O.R.B. receiver that actually works without killing the bug. It takes them a while, and many bugs die terrible deaths due to the experiments! Similar to the games Project O.R.C., the receiver is placed on the bugs heads. They noticeably have lightning, similar to that of TKO's, but green.

They are incredibly strong, and should be avoided at all costs— as fighting them has proven to be.. deadly. (Thankfully, they all know how to revive each other!) They're significantly faster, stronger, harder to kill and overall have given the entire crew a hard time.

This however, is only the beginning. The bugs are just the start. Once they figure the receivers with the bugs, they move on to people. They start experimenting on ways to use the receivers on their own soldiers, this.. doesn't go well at first. But eventually, they figure out a way to incorporate a functional receiver into the helmets of some soldiers— G.L.O.R.B. Soldiers.

Similar to the bugs, these soldiers are stronger, faster and better than pretty much any other soldier, but most importantly— they are completely under POINTINENTS control. They have no control.

A majority of G.L.O.R.B. Soldiers are either low ranking soldiers. Other glorb soldiers are usually anyone who poses a threat to POINTINENTS goals, such as any scientist, hero or sold soldier who starts showing doubt, and, captured resistance members (such as Red Action.)

These soldiers are usually used to help fight off villains, or do any of the work that the higher ups don't really want to do— like fighting a bunch of freshly enbiggened children. Unfortunately, these soldiers are still weak to the same things that G.L.O.R.B. bugs are— including the G.L.O.R.B. Disrupter Bomb.

POINTINENT isn't as aware of their weaknesses as KO, TKO, Rad, Enid and Dendy are as they haven't had to actually deal with fighting and killing them— they are aware to a degree though, and they do attempt to make the soldiers more resistant to them.

#grounded!point #grounded!au #ok ko au #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko lets be heroes au #ok ko

7 notes · View notes