Why Glitch Techs Disappointed Me
The Writing Is Basic: It’s not terribly written, mind you. For the most part each episode just follows a plot line we’ve seen before in cartoons with little to no variation to make it stand out. The episode Smashozaurs follows the plot in which an old friend is possessed by a powerful Glitch and starts to turn evil as the episode progresses. As soon as I saw High Five’s old friend Casino, I knew he was going to be the antagonist for the episode. I also know how the story would play out and how it would end. Other episodes such as Collection Quest, Adventures in Pet Training and Ping also have this problem of having their plots be predicted before it’s even set up. It also doesn’t help that I found the jokes rather underwhelming. I found the video game references to be predictable, the slapstick weak and the cartoony faces just not landing.
The Supporting Characters Are Dull: None of the supporting characters really landed for me as they were all one note and underdeveloped. There are exceptions such as Geri in Ping (played by the always awesome Cree Summer) and Miko’s sister’s (after given significant development in Collection Quest and Karate Trainer) but for the most part, most of the supporting cast are pretty underwhelming side characters. Phil is the stereotypical apathetic boss, Bergy is a social awkward teen, Zahra, Haneesh and Nix are just there and BITT is just another artificial intelligence robot. I really want to be invested in this world, but the supporting cast is so dull it might as well be empty.
Mitch Williams is AWFUL: The biggest reason why I don’t love this show is because of this character right here: Mitch Williams. Remember that episode from Hey Arnold when Phoebe met her idol, Ronnie Matthews and he was a lip synching self absorbed cheat? That’s Mitch’s character in a nutshell. He’s a rival character that lacks any charm, interest, relatablity, or understanding to make me care whether he lives or dies. The very first episode, he wipes High Five’s memory after the latter rightfully won and by the end of the episode he get’s off Scott free. In BUDS, he leads a glitch to HQ which leads into an Invasion of The Body Snatchers parody and he isn’t reprehended for his misdeed. In Alpha Leader, he tells High Five that if he wants to be a good leader, he has to be self absorbed just like him and it nearly gets the team killed. I’m baffled as to why I’m supposed to care let alone feel sorry for this selfish, egotistical punk. The second to last episode of Season 2, I Am Mitch Williams gives him long overdue character development, but by that point it was too little too late. I hate this character so much, I was tempted to turn the show off every time he was one screen.
Why You Should Still Watch It: To end this post on a more positive note, I think you should still give this show a watch for yourself and make your own judgement. The show has incredible visuals, the action scenes are tight, Miko is a great character (and is played wonderfully by Monica Ray), High Five is pretty cool too and they make quite the duo. Plus, this show is perfectly acceptable for kids to watch, especially if they’re into video games. Don’t let my disappointment discourage your from watching the show. Both seasons are on Netflix now and considering it took 4 years since it was picked up to actually see the light of day, I say the creators deserves a cult following for this show.
