This week on Big Hero 6: The Series, Hiro returned to the world of illegal robot fighting to unmask a thief programming drones to carry out robberies. Sparks fly (no pun intended) between him and fellow bot-fighter Trina (Christy Carlson Romano), but there’s more to this situation than meets the eye…
1. Hero Hobbies
One of the big themes of the episode is that Hiro does enjoy being back in the world of competitive robo-fighting. It’s apparent the boy doesn’t have any real interests outside of being a superhero or doing his schoolwork, which must make it very difficult for him to actually unwind. Even Batman, who seemingly lives for beating criminals, has all the activities his billions can afford (like polo, for instance): I guess the message is to find your kids a true outlet. Small wonder then Hiro becomes so smitten with Trina…
2. Face Lying
Similarly, another message in the episode is to just be aware if a friendship with someone you’ve recently met doesn’t work out, and that it’s normal if you soon discover an unpleasant side that puts you off them. Fred and Go Go coin the term “face-lying” to describe how creeped out they are by Hiro’s insistence that he isn’t thrilled at bot-fighting again, and it leads to a great line later when Trina is unmasked as the thief, where Fred states she fooled Hiro with the “fake moustache of fake friendship, which is the biggest face lie of them all.” (Where do they come up with this stuff? It’s astonishing.) Ah yes, of course Trina turns out to be the robber: it’s not like the episode puts any investment into it being possibly anyone else.
3. Adult Humor
But before that, the gang has to infiltrate Yama’s office to find proof if he’s the one behind the drone robberies. After finding his locked USB, they watch a video on his desktop and while it proves he couldn’t have done it, it’s also horrifying. I laughed out loud, as my mind instantly went to the gutter as to what it could possibly be. Alas, it turns the alibi is a video of him having flamenco dance lessons. How’s that horrifying? Is it because he’s fat? Come on, Disney.
4. Let’s Talk Shop
Let’s discuss the robots in the episode, given it’s all about them. I was gonna exclude Baymax from this rundown, but I should mention I like how he’s learned to deflate him somewhat to fit through a bus door. But regarding the bot-fighters themselves, it was pretty nice to see the return of Megabot, Hiro’s first creation from the movie, and how handily he came through the episode’s climax.
Trina’s centipede-like robot was very cool, like a mobile version of one of Doc Ock’s tentacles, as are her robber robots, particularly the Cerberus dog-bot that breathes ice and fire and spits acid. What’s interesting to me is that the robots in this episode are cel-shaded 3D characters, which makes me wonder if that style was ever considered for the whole show at some point.
5. Double Meaning
Speaking of robots, let’s finally talk about the episode’s biggest reveal, that the titular bot-fighter Trina herself is a robot, and Obake’s “daughter.” (Titles with double meanings, who doesn’t love them?) It’s a mindblowing addition to say the least. While this series is full of robots, we haven’t had a human robot before, not least one who could become Hiro’s main love interest, the Catwoman to his Batman, as it were. I also suppose we understand what Obake’s glowing skull is about now: he must’ve cybernetically augmented himself.
Bonus thoughts:
– Norlum’s animation is as jerky as ever, but they place the camera in interesting ways this week, for example, there’s a close-up of Hiro at the cafe table with Cass looming over him, which demonstrates the closeness between him and his aunt in a way I hadn’t felt before.
– Honey Lemon looks great with a fake moustache.
– I really did not get why Fred kept making dramatic noises.
– Also, he really shouldn’t have put pain receptors in his costume.
– So er, has anyone in the US ever watched Robot Wars?
