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Title: Vixen
Season: 01
Episode: 01
Network: CWSeed
Aired: August 25th, 2015
Watched: August 25th, 2015

September 1rst, 2015

Hello there everybody!
How are you all doing today? I hope this post finds you in good shape, and well! Today, we’re going to talk about a really quick show called Vixen, it’s quite an interesting character from the DC Comics, but one that I’ve mostly been familiarized with in her appearances in the Justice League: Unlimited cartoon series (great show, great show, please watch it). So, before we start, even though this episode was only 5 minutes long, please expect maybe spoilers in this post.

Pre-show

All right! I’ve been waiting for Vixen for AWHILE now, and you’ve known this because I’ve made a mention of her in my Supergirl pilot review or in my pre-show review. As I’ve mentioned before, I only really know her from the Justice League: Unlimited, and you know that while I’ve done research, I haven’t really encountered her much in the comics [then again, you should also know that I don’t read as much DC Comics as I do MARVEL, so maybe that’s why my knowledge is outdated].

I know her as the woman whom Green Lantern John Stewart went out with when he sort of broke it off with Hawkgirl – because she had sort of betrayed the Earth (but they don’t worry she sort of helped save it afterwards but she had a long path of redemption in front of her). It’s a shame too, because as a kid, I really, REALLY loved those two characters together (don’t worry though, in the Batman Beyond series, which is set in the same universe (sort of), it’s implied that this Green Lantern and Hawkgirl had a son much, much later on). At any rate, he hit it off with Vixen, which was a girl I didn’t think I would like at first, but then, seeing how the two ladies interacted with each other and seeing how extremely badass she is (we’ll move on to her powers as soon as I’m done chatting about the amazing rapport she has with these two characters), I just grew to love her character and hated to think that John Stewart with break her heart to go back to Hawkgirl, even though it is only going to happen in the very distant future and we don’t know if they parted in good terms or bad terms (well actually, you see how that ends up in the comics that follow up the series).

Eventually though, in a really well-written episode at that, the two ladies sort of made up when they were forced by their superiors to work together [with Vigilante, of course] on an alien planet, to survive [it turned out to be, by my recalling (why do I remember these weird events but not things for school?), an ambush set up by Thanagarians to punish Hawkgirl for betraying them for Earth]. I think it was at the end of that particular episode, the two women gained a new found respect for each other; it was interesting to see later on that the two deadly ladies decided to keep their vying for John Stewart‘s affection loyally, but still respect each other well. It was extremely funny when they made Green Lantern uncomfortable by sort of ‘flirting’ (I think?) with him in front of each other. It felt like they ended up just teaming up together to make John Stewart uneasy about their relationship, which was a major thumbs up from me even at a young age hahaha [granted, I don’t think I really understood what was happening between the three of them at the time, though].

I just always really loved it when two female characters befriended each other and had somewhat complex relationships with each other? It certainly beats the alternative of writing them solely as two dimensional rivals who didn’t do much else than bicker about who their “man” enjoys spending his time most with? I mean sure, they do indeed compete somewhat for John Stewart‘s affections, I can’t take that away from the show, but at least it added another dimension to their competition? It makes sense to me anyway and I’m sorry you had to read through all that rant.

And I think it was later on, in another (almost unrelated) episode, these two ladies even got pit against each other by Roulette (I think?) who wanted to gain money by letting people bet on fights between superheroes [and heroes, I think, as we would later find out]. Black Canary fought against Huntress (they had a little rivalry going on, too, it was amazing) and Hawkgirl and Vixen also had a bout until the four of them were pit against a brainwashed but very real and fully powered Wonder Woman herself [notice how I’m purposefully not telling you how that particular episode ended, so that you can go and find it for yourselves, hahaha].

In the comics, Vixen as I understand it didn’t always have control over her powers – it makes sense, I mean [and we’ll use that as a segway to talk about her abilities]… Vixen uses an amulet (with a Tantu totem on it) which she wears as a necklace in order to take on the powers or attributes of living creatures – mostly animals. Once she touches said totem, she is able to activate a power of her own choosing, if I understand correctly. Of course in other stories (because comics will always be complicated), it’s revealed that the totem actually keeps her powers in check, keeping her mind sane whenever she uses the Fauna’s skills. This is ironic, because, as I mentioned, sometimes, she doesn’t always have control over her powers, like that one time when she lost control of her animalistic side and stayed with the Suicide Squad to keep the public safe until she got a proper hold on her powers. The interesting stories I’ve seen so far are mostly the ones connected to the Trickster God Anansi, who was the one who created her Tantu Totem? It seems like he granted her these abilities in order for her to work for him [although I’m not sure why, since, before the new 52, he never summoned her to his side again, so we’ve no idea where the writers wanted to go with this (or rather, at the time of writing this anyway, we don’t know exactly what the writes wanted to do with the character)]. Now I don’t know if the series will go with this, but it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store for Vixen!! Let’s boost the ratings of this show up [I do realize as I say this that scheduling this for October, after this web series has ended might not be the best way to promote it, I’m so sorry Vixen, I’ve got a schedule to uphold] so that she can have either a proper cartoon series on CW Seed, or for her voice actress to actually physically appear in Arrow and/or The Flash series on CW (or actually to have her own series). That would be majorly wonderful to see.

Moving on, this episode, which only lasts for 5 minutes (wishing it would be longer, but WOW the amount of information they can cram into 5 minutes proves they’re a talented team?), starts off by proving to us that, indeed, as the promotional poster stated [oh and by the way, the art and designs by Phil Bourassa?! He’s amazing and awesome and wonderful! He also worked on Young Justice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!], this Vixen is going to be a part of the Arrow-verse and, by extension, the Flash-verse from the same network [of course, the fact that the actors that play Flash and Arrow also lent their voices to these animated counterparts of their characters really helps give us that feeling too (it was especially nice for me, hearing Oliver Queen‘s voice, as, and I’ll admit that’s my bad, I haven’t caught up with Arrow since its Season 2)]. Flash and Green Arrow are basically pursuing Vixen (and trying to capture her while simultaneously telling her they’re not there to harm her). The very fact that Mari doesn’t let the heroes catch her somehow makes me think that someone’s after her already and that she might have been deceived once by those lines, OR that she’s always been naturally suspicious of people [I mean, for some reason, they knew her full ‘human’ name, of course, attacking her with arrows]. The way she uses her abilities in these few moments proves to us that she’s either using them instinctively and that she’s a natural, OR that she’s been practicing and knows the part or full extent of her powers already – or at least, enough to unable them to capture her.

Then, right before she falls to her death [I’m sure she’ll unlock the power of flight or spider-shooting on the spot if she hasn’t already], we cut to a little bit [3 days] prior to her adventure with the two heroes, where Mari McCabe wakes up in jail after she stabbed a dude’s hand with a pencil (who was interviewing her for a job interview as a fashion designer but ended up telling her her designs lacked “identity”) for suggesting that she do a job for him (not sure what was implied there)? She was bailed out of jail by her “father” even though she doesn’t specifically call him that but Chuck insists on them being family (despite the fact that he’s her foster father). Through their talk, we discover that a woman named Patty also probably raised Mari (perhaps she was Chuck‘s wife?).

The fact that she didn’t want to sell her family heirloom to Hauser the jail guard proves to me that she probably has some kind of attachment to it, especially since it’s a family heirloom and that she’s been looking for her biological parents in Michigan [as a part of her “figuring out her identity” perhaps?]. As she begins to tell him more about her adventures outside of Detroit (that’s where Motor City is located in the Arrow-Verse, but I’m not sure if it’s canon in the DC Universe), some thugs come to rob her of her necklace (really?! Couldn’t you just say: “Give me all your jewelry and money”? That way, they won’t be too suspicious?!). These muggers knock out Chuck [even though hey, he offered them money, too, that’s so unfair for the poor dude, I’ll be very upset if he dies, I mean, he probably knew how much the necklace meant to Mari so he didn’t want her to lose it? Or maybe he just concentrated on getting them out of the sticky situation by offering the thugs some money] and put a gun to her face, forcing her to give them the necklace (when they really could just snatch it away from her while she’s paralyzed, I’m just saying, really).

Before I finish, I’ll say this: I love how they animated her powers, it’s very reminiscent of the Justice League: Unlimited, and I love the way they included Arrow‘s theme song as well as The Flash‘s soundtrack when the two first appear [I don’t know how I know it’s the Flash‘s piece when I still haven’t started the first episode]. And you already know I love the art style! Keep it up, CW Seed!

As usual, in order to wait for the next episode, I’ll provide you with a few links!

I’ll post next episode’s review next week!
Until then, take good care of yourselves!
(〜￣▽￣)〜  Ponyta’s out! 〜(^∇^〜）