Wulin Warriors: What the heck was that?
Last night I happened to stumble upon the premiere of Wulin Warriors: Legend
of the Seven Stars on Cartoon Network. The show is part of the network's Toonami block and focuses on two warriors
in the land of Wu (Lone Sword and Scar) who are trying to find the Lord of the Stars in order to restore peace to
the land. Also, it's not very good.
The show resembles Thunderbirds in some ways, except it uses dolls rather than marionettes. The dolls have no real decernible mouth movements, and the whole show seems less like an action adventure and more like watching people playing with dolls for half an hour. Those lackluster production values could almost be forgiven if the characters, especially Scar, weren't so cloying. Scar is meant to be the comic relief, but his lines are delivered with all the grace and subtly of an egg beater being crammed up your nose. By the end of the episode I wanted to take their dolls away until they promised never to make a show like this again.
A bit of research revealed that Wulin Warriors is actually an Americanized version of a popular Taiwanese program. Therefore, I'll allow that perhaps something (or everything) was lost in the translation. Cartoon Network has always tried to place the best shows in its "speciality" blocks like Toonami and Adult Swim, and I'm not sure exactly how something this lackluster made it to air. Apparently thirteen episodes of the show have been created, and if it lasts beyond that, I'll be surprised.

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