User blog:NerdWithAKeyboard/gen:LOCK Season 1 Review

gen:LOCK is Rooster Teeth's new animated webseries. This show got a LOT of promotion prior to its release, and Rooster Teeth was treating it like it was going to be the new RWBY: celebrity voice actors, countless commercials, and writing and directing from RWBY mainstay and voice of Roman Torchwick, Gray G. Haddok. Now that the first season of the series has wrapped up, did it come close to what they were expecting?

First off: my thoughts about the series before it came out. Let's just say I was excited but skeptical; I really wanted to see something epic and innovative, but doubted it would be as good as RWBY, Red vs. Blue, or Nomad of Nowhere. And I should also state a HUGE issue; not with the show itself, but with its availability, and that's that EVERY episode except for the pilot is only available for Rooster Teeth First members; they didn't just make the most recent episode available for RTF members only for a week and then release it to the public like ALL OF THEIR OTHER SHOWS, but make the whole show except for the first episode locked behind a monthly subscription paywall. Not a good idea when you're trying to push this as your next defining program, guys.

Now, onto my thoughts on the series itself.

The show feels like a hybrid of James Cameron's Avatar and Pacific Rim, compatible humans uploading their minds into giant robots (called "Holons") to fight in a war against a savage terrorist force called the Union. They need to adjust to their new bodies and learn how to fight, while other forces work against them. All the components to a great sci-fi series are here. And the best part of the series is the technology and the world-building, which is very reminiscent of other sci-fi environments to feel familiar, but unique enough to be its own thing. The story isn't much; it just follows these recruits as they adjust and adapt to this new war strategy. However, it does throw in clever twists, such as the antagonist Nemesis being the brainwashed ORIGINAL mind of the protagonist Julian Chase, and the heroic Chase actually being a copy. We've herd the whole "hero and their evil clone" story before, but this one is interesting in that it's more of a "villain and their good clone" thing. Most of the characters are good too. There are some I don't care for, but Chase is good, Miranda is good, Dr. Weller is great, and Cammie is amazing and by far the best character in the series so far. The animation, while different, is still very good and very stylized as well as unique.

I do have some criticisms, though. This series does suffer from something I have noticed is plaguing a lot of Rooster Teeth series recently, and that's the pacing. A fault shared with other new first seasons like Nomad of Nowhere, the story seems to be going reasonably until the end of the season, where a huge event happens (in this case, a massive attack resulting in deaths of main characters) comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel built up or earned. It would be like if the first Volume of RWBY went normally, but then the last few episodes were the Battle of Beacon. It wouldn't feel, for lack of a better description, ready yet. It needs more time, more buildup, more risk. We need to get to know this world and these characters more before we're invested enough in that big of an event. There's also one other thing, and unfortunately it REALLY bothers me, and that's that this show is incredibly, INCREDIBLY politically correct. And not just politically correct, but shoved-down-your-throat you-better-accept-this far-left-agenda politically correct, which I'm sad to say is an issue I see popping up more and more in Rooster Teeth productions. I don't mind what they want to represent, I just hate how its constantly shoved down my throat and constantly has attention called to it, as it can be distracting.

So before I wrap things up with my final thoughts, I want to give my thoughts on the series' future: while I do believe the series needs some polish with its pacing and tone, I do strongly believe this series can be good, great even. I have hopes for it, and I do want to see what will happen next.

So, final thoughts on gen:LOCK Season 1: it is a solid, decent start to the series. Like I said, I do have some issues, but there is plenty of good here to make a really entertaining show. I want to see where it goes, though admittedly I probably won't be following as closely as I do with RWBY, Red vs. Blue, or Nomad of Nowhere. The best word I can think to describe this first season is "potential", The series needs some adjustments, but has serious, serious potential. I will follow it as it continues, and will be there to review Season 2 when it's done. I do recommend this series, as there is a lot of good that is too good to pass up.

6/10