My top 5 Ejen Ali characters

It’s has been a year already and Ejen Ali has run a full season, consisting of 13 episodes. Among these episodes, a number of characters had been introduced. Because this show is undoubtedly awesome, it stands to say that some of these characters are awesome. Today, I will be counting down:

My Top 5 Ejen Ali Characters

Usual reminder!

-This list includes charcters from the Ejen Ali franchise only. Duh.

-Ejen Ali and it’s characters are property of Wau animation. I don’t own anything.

-This is based on my personal opinion. And interests.

With that, let’s get to the list!

5. Abang Bear

In fiction where the story centers around the conflict between the good and evil, sometimes there are several types of villains. One of them is the evil businessman. For Ejen Ali, it’s Abang Bear. And the show made it pretty obvious by giving him a ‘tauke’ look, because everyone(in Malaysia) knows that ‘tauke’s are usually associated with businesses and wealth and stuff. No offense to real-life ‘tauke’s.

The evil businessman villain are one of my favourite types of villains. Why? You see, evil businessman villains are known to be cunning and smart. These two qualities enable these villains to operate their dirty business secretly without getting noticed by the authorities-or if the authorities did notice, there’s no proof to apprehend them. Because they are just that cunning. It also poses a trouble for the heroes when they are trying to apprehend these villains. Because they are so cunning, they always get away from the heroes grasps, even when the opportunities is in front of the heroes eyes. Not to mention, how can you run a successful business if you’re not smart?

Not to mention, evil businessman villains can be quite heartless sometimes. Because they usually don’t care about anyone else and only care about themselves-and their pockets. They don’t care who get hurts, as long as money keep flowing into their pockets. And we could see this quality with Abang Bear. He tortures cats for goodness sake. How could he.

Because I like evil businessman villains and Abang Bear is the spitting image of it, it’s only fair I put on my list. But, since he doesn’t really do much(for now), I’m placing him at the bottom. Hopefully, we got to see more of him in action is season 2.

Also, can someone explain to me what ethnicity he is? Chinese? Malayan(Kedah)? Mixed? Venezuela? Antartican? I can’t really tell from his accent. It’s pretty nice, tho…

4. Dr. Aaron

Dr. Aaron? Who you ask? You know, that guy who worked under Dr. Tong? That guy who thinks that he is the saviour of the ‘human species’ and it is his duty to progress the human race?

You know that guy who appeared in episode 2? The mad scientist type villain?

Yup, he’s the one.

Ever since he appeared in introduction episode, he became my favourite villain. In a matter of seconds. Why do you ask? One word. Motive.

In fiction, a good character must have one of these characteristics. Motive.  And Dr. Aaron fits the bill.

From the very first episode the writers revealed Dr. Aaron motives. Straight upfront.  He wants to progress the human ‘species’. To bring them to an age of prosperity and harmony. Sort of. I guess. That doesn’t sound like anything evil, right? So why is he a villain?

Well, good motives are good motives, but it’s the execution what matters. In order to achieve this noble dream of his, he went to…quite unethical measures. From the very early episode, we seen him trying his invention which he claims ‘could advance the human race’. And from the looks of it, it probably could! But there’s one problem; it robs human of their humanity. It controls humans minds and turns into mindless slaves. Unable to think, speak or have emotions. All they do is work, work, work. As they were instructed to. Like robots.

Well that got dark. Dang, this show is awesome!

When I think about this motive, I notice something. An opportunity. A golden opportunity, for Dr. Aaron's character development. How does Dr. Aaron thinks about stuff like human emotions and love? Does he consider them as obstacles for mankind’s development? If so, how will he handle 'remove' these ‘obstacles’? Does he really have the means of ‘bringing out the full potential of humankind’ as he claims, in his own  image?

I believe, if the show explore Dr. Aaron’s motives more deeply, it will give him significant and amazing character development, thus making him an awesome villain, which in turn makes him a major threat against CyberRaya and possibility, humanity itself.

Heh. Ironic.

But since he’s probably in custody right now, he really couldn’t do much for now. Which is why he is not on the number one spot.

3. Dos

One word: HOT. Full stop.

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Okay, she’s one of Uno’s main man. Or woman, in her case.

Who is super hot.

She and her partner plays an important role in Uno’s scheme to take over MATA. Such as stealing IRIS’s blueprint, recruit Dr. Aaron into their faction and much more.

How hot is that?

Being introduced into the series from the very start, she proved to be a formidable and challenging foe for Ali and his companions.

While still looking hot.

Besides being very agile and flexible, she is equipped with an array of weapons. From booster shoes to energy blades. But her signature weapon is her 2 shox stix, which she wears as a hairpin. She uses them by throwing them at her enemies to stun them with an electric attack, thus immobilizing them.

Wow, I know she’s hot, but I didn’t know she could be quite ‘stunning’.

But the best thing about her is her suit. As the norm with female spy in fiction, she wore a full body suit which mainly consists of black. But unlike other female spies, her suit is actually pretty modest. No exposed, err, chest, no skin-tight suit that exposed her, well, stuff or anything that’s got to do with it. Finally! A modest looking female spy.

But, despite being modest, she still looks…you guess it. HOT.

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I need to see a doctor.

2. Rizwan

Ah, that famous Inviso agent. That handsome looking dude in the white suit. The skilled infiltrator who always walks around with that lollipop.

When he made his debut in episode 2, I thought he will be that jerk-ish, arrogant handsome dude who will constantly harass Ali throughout the show. But, in the very same episode, my views changed. From spite to awe and admiration. Words aren’t enough to describe how cool and amazing Rizwan’s fighting skills. You just have to watch it for yourself. Seriously, he knows the position of the human body’s pressure points. Phwoarr….

Rizwan doesn’t really like Ali, but for a good reason. Unlike Alicia who’s a plain jerk. He believes that Ali will be an obstacle for future MATA’s operations and get in the way of the mission…and he’s kinda right. Any Ejen Ali fan can approve this. But unlike Alicia, Rizwan decides to something with Ali so he would no longer be a burden for MATA. What does he do? He becames his…jeng jeng jeng…Ali’s mentor!

Thanks to his strict and stern(but necessary) mentoring, Ali became the amazing agent and the less annoying brat as recently in the series. His relationship with Ali became quite close. In fact, I think he’s one of the few people who are supportive of Ali. Kudos to you, Rizwan!

Oh! Had I mentioned that it’s later revealed that he wasn’t always the cold person he was now? He actually used to be(apparently) more cheerful but that all changed after the Leader of the Inviso Core died in the explosion…who was actually his beloved mentor. Whom he considered like a father. Ohhh…how sad.

But luckily, his mentor did survived the incident. And he…wants to take over MATA? What?! He turned traitor? What?!!And he even tries to kill his protégé? What?!!!

Hmm…I wonder. After all this ordeal, I wonder how Rizwan will think of his mentor after this? I guess we just have to wait for season 2 to find out…

1   1.     Ali

,     Yup, folks. You heard it right. It’s Ali. Ali bin Ghazali. Ali, the main character of the series.

     Ali has gone a long way since the very start of the series. At first, he’s the cliché ‘nobita boy’, being irresponsible, lazy, doesn’t follow orders, always slacking in studies, getting late to school, annoying and anything that goes with it. But as the series progress, his character develop significantly. In fact, I think he had the most character development in the series. He’s the main character after all.

From the annoying, cringe-inducing, lazy, hopeless brat to a less annoying, less cringe-inducing, less lazy, less hopeless brat and a more potent, capable, skilled, cool and an awesome kid, especially in his skills as an agent. He tooks his responsibility as an agent more seriously now, and trains as hard as he can in order to be the best spy agent. And his training did pay off, as recently in the series he was able to stand against powerful enemies such as Dos and Trez.

And he gotten really, really good with those Aero boots.

Not to mention, he also seems to be improving in his studies. He starts to arrive at school early and manages to answer his teacher’s questions in the class. Finally!

There’s actually a tragic tale behind Ali. You see, his mother is…dead. Well, she isn’t confirmed to be dead but for now, let’s presume that’s the case. While his dad is far too busy with his work to spend time with family. He’s one of the main contributors of CyberRaya, after all. So, this means Ali is lacking parental attention.

Oh. That’s probably the reason why Ali is lacking in his studies. Lack of attention and love from his parents. I start to feel sorry for him.

Oh, had I mentioned how caring and passionate Ali is? Yup, you heard that right. Ali actually cares about other people’s wellbeing. And it isn’t limited to humans only. It includes cats! Cute, cuddly little cats. When anyone is in trouble, Ali would do his best to help that person. When he sees people that cares gets hurt, he gets pissed off. In fact, it’s the reason why, in the season one finale, IRIS manages to take over Ali. And because of this, IRIS-controlled-Ali manages to beat the heck of out Uno’s faction. Take that, bad guys! That’s what you get for hurting Bakar.

Yeah, Ali might still make a blunder sometimes, but trust him, if things gets tough and requires Ali’s unique abilities, you can bet Ali will get the job done.

So, there’s my list of “My top 5 Ejen Ali characters”. Did I miss anyone? Got something you disagree with? Is my writing good or complete trash? Please let me know in the comments. And if you’re a fan of Ejen Ali(and Boboiboy) and want more goodies like this, please support my blog.

Cheerio!

Blog Update #1

Blog Update #1

Hmm…

Hmm…

Hmm…

Well, remember that I mentioned that I’ll be making a review on Boboiboy Galaxy Episode 7? Well, I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I decided… I won’t be doing it.

Okay, okay. First, I’m sorry if some of you guys had really been expecting for it but like I said, I won’t be doing it. Among reviews on other episodes. Or any other reviews. Because to be honest with you, doing reviews is a tough, tough thing to do(for me). Seriously, I’m amazed at how some people managed to write these stuff. Like Mr. Izzu Ziq for example. But who knows? Maybe in the future, I may kidnap the best critics in the world and drain their talented talents in a horrifying fashion for me to abuse be an expert in this whole ‘reviewing’ thing. But for now, I won’t be doing any more reviews. Sorry.

BUT, don’t get me wrong. I’m not discontinuing my blog. Oh, no, no. So please put those guns and bombs and knifes away. I like to live a long life please. I will still be writing stuff on my two favourite shows, Ejen Ali and Boboiboy. Stuff like:

Top 5 Ejen Ali Characters

Top X battles in Boboiboy

Top X gadgets in Ejen Ali

Top X powers in Boboiboy

And much, much more. I might even tackle some serious topics in the future. Topics that might be quite sensitive. Hehehe…

But, let me remind you guys, don’t expect these to come soon. “What?! Seriously? First, you said you won’t be making anymore reviews. Now, you’re delaying your updates on your own blog?” Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, calm down. Let me explain.

You see, for the next few months I will be very, very busy with my university education. And university is tough. Trust me. I’ll have to spend less time writing my blog and focus more on my studies. I’m really, really sorry about this. But education comes first. Furthermore, I’m also in the process of doing my own project, which is still in the baby stages. So, I have to divide time between my studies, my own project and my blog. Gosh. But don’t worry. By God’s will, these stuff will come to you faithful folks in the future. BUT, that’s as long as you guys keep supporting my blog. And you can do that by following and leaving comments on it. Trust me, I will really appreciate that. Also, I might, just might write some stuff about western shows(and anime. Probably). And I know you guys love western shows(and anime). But, do you really want me to write stuff about them? How about giving me an answer in the comments section?

Last of all, thanks to those who supported my blog. Your supports helps my blog grow, to the point it even reach America!  “Wha???!!! Really?” Yes, really. Thank you, you all.  I really appreciate it.

Also, do you have any suggestion of what should I write in the future? Please tell me in the comments!

Adios!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I don’t anything. Even the Thomas and Friends franchise.

Thoughts: Ejen Ali Season One finale

Hmm…Originally I wanted to write a review on every episode of Ejen Ali. From Episode One to Episode 13. But, due to time restraints and laziness, I decided to just skip to the season finale. Hope you guys don’t mind. Also, thanks to those who had read my blog post about my thoughts on the season pilot, IRIS. I really appreciate it. If you hadn’t read it yet, then please do. Now, before I discuss my thoughts, I like to address a few things. Basically, it’s my observation of the series as it goes so far.

-Wow. Who could knew that Ejen Ali will turn out to be quite a serious and mature show? It’s action scenes surely attracted kids to the tv screen, but we teens(and possibly adults, too) are more interested and intrigued with the story under it. The guys at Wau animations are really good at nailing these emotional scenes, especially with emotional music. So good they are, they gave stuff that seems and looks cliché a fresh new breath. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to regard Ejen Ali as an anime-inspired animation, right(plotwise, of course)?

-Ali is now my favourite character. From an annoying, lazy, hopeless, order disobeying, cringey brat to a less annoying, less lazy, less hopeless, less cringey and a more potent, capable, skilled, cool, and an awesome kid, especially in his skills as an secret agent. He’s so skilled to the point where, during a fairly recent episode he managed to single-handedly fend off Dos and Trez! How cool is that? Yeah, he still slopes in school and disobeys orders during important missions sometimes but he at least tries to improve himself. That’s got to prove something, right/ As the series progresses, we found out that he actually has family issues. You see, his father is actually a very famous scientist who played an important role in the development of the city of Cyberjaya(surprise, surprise), and because of this, he doesn’t spent that much time with Ali at home. While Ali’s mother…is…well, dead. Well actually, she’s supposedly dead. We haven’t quite sure yet how does his mother die, either missing dead ‘type’ or ‘died in front of the eye’ type-which is definitely more horrifying. Whatever it is, it sure did leave an impact on Ali. Now I starting to feel sorry for him. That’s probably the reason why Ali keeps failing in school. The death of your loved ones leaves a very deep impact to your life, you know.

-Alicia…is a jerk. And has father issues, just like Ali. And couldn’t accept defeat. Jeez. She’s not the worse character to ever appear in the series. Oh no, no, no. But she certainly wouldn’t sitting in my top choices. But don’t tell her about this, okay…

-The revealation of UNO’s identity as Rizwan’s mentor is…expected. I mean, it’s pretty obvious. And cliché. But meh, it’s cool so it’s fine. But the reveal of Jenny as UNO’s secret spy? MIND-BLOWING. These guys at Wau animation are really good at pulling off plot twists. They misdirect us by making it look like either Bakar or Rizwan is the traitor. And when, both of them are proven to not be the the traitor, and when we forget about all that whole stuff(because we are too busy watching the action between UNO’s faction and MATA going), they smacked us across the face with the reveal of Jenny as the spy. Bravo, Wau animation. Bravo. It may seem forced but it actually clarifies some things. It explains why Dos was able to take Jenny’s Id card and lab coat and break into the lab in the first episode. Because Jenny gave those stuff to her in the first place. It also explains why in episode 11, when Ali was confronted by the security of MATA when he tried to break into it, the security suddenly shut down. Not because of Comot, but because of Jenny, who shut down the security herself. Yet again, it explains why in episode 12, when Ali tried to contact the HQ, the signal couldn’t get through. Because Jenny blocked it using some sort of device.  Also, what kind of metal is UNO wearing, that renders his data unreadable by IRIS? And what’s the deal with the MATA higher ups? Is there a conspiracy going on? Hmm…mysteries, mysteries…BTW, is UNO wearing a bionic arm? Hmm...more mysteries to be added to the shelves...

-I knew it. I knew that IRIS has more abilities that meets the eye.

No, not this more than meets the eye. 

And the episode: Potential proves my point by showing off more of IRIS’ abilities. But the override mode? Nope, didn’t expect that. The ability to control nearby electronic systems and devices? That’s just too, too cool. And thickens the plot.

-Doctor Aaron is actually a pretty interesting villain. He has a very interesting motive. You see, he wants to advance the ‘human species’ and bring them to an age of prosperity or something like that. To achieve that goal, he has been developing high tech gadgets that he hopes could bring out the full ‘human species’ potential. That’s a pretty noble intention, right? Well, yeah but unfortunately, like every other bad guy, Dr. Aaron’s methods in achieving this goal are quite…unethical, you could say. Wait, what do you mean by that? Well, I don’t know. Like, turning your workers into fellow hard slave labour without any emotions and capability to think and while work non-stop, 24/7 without complaining and will continue doing so until the energy in the body runs out, just like mindless robots?

Yup, you read that right.

It’s a pity though to see him getting bossed by UNO and his associates like he was their hard labour. I hope that in the future, Dr. Aaron will manage break from their faction and starts cooking up a serious plan to ensure his ‘noble’ goal gets achieve, and thus becames a serious threat towards Ali, MATA and the city of CyberJaya.

-Futuristic, modern and highly advanced Malaysia? Awesome…

-I got a feeling that the people at Wau animation(or at least, most of them) believe in the thought that Hang Tuah is not really the hero of Malaysia. The real hero actually belongs to Hang Jebat. Well, we all have our own opinions about stuff like this...

Now that I have made my points, let’s get into my:

Thoughts: Ejen Ali Season One finale

 Override

Hmm…Override…cool…

Wow. Just wow. This episode has to one of the best episode of Ejen Ali that I had ever seen. Intense and epic. Those are the words I would use to describe this amazing episode. The action scenes are very choreographed and animated, and becames intense and epic thanks to the amazing soundtracks and emotional value injected into it. You can feel intensity as you watch the battle unfold between UNO’s faction and MATA. There’s no other way to say it. It’s simply awesome.

IRIS controlling Ali? OH MY GOSH! Why, Wau animation? Why do you constantly try to blow our minds with shocking surprises? The concept of IRIS controlling and manipulating Ali’s body to it’s own will is amazing…and quite dark. Imagine it. A machine, a freaking machine, controls a persons body. And in this case, it’s a 12 year old. A child. Can you imagine what kind of implications it could cause? No wonder the higher ups at MATA decided to shut down this project. Hmm…when you think of it, is it possible that during the project someone got controlled by IRIS and causes severe implication towards him/her? Who knows? That’s a theory for another day.

Though, just a suggestion to Wau animation. If you really plan on making more and more surprises like these, try foreshadowing these stuff. That way, it would avoid making them looked forced. Unless...you did foreshadow these stuff...Hmm...maybe I have to rewatch the entire season One of Ejen Ali for this...

I knew it! UNO does have a bionic arm. Which means he doesn't have a left arm. That's quite dark...I love it.

Well, if I used to thought that Jenny still has an inch of goodness in herself, that thought is long gone. Because in this episode, we see that Cinco(Jenny’s codename, revealed in the episode too) is just a heartless villain like her associates. That mercy in her eyes is long gone, if it even existed in the first place. 

Is this the face of mercy?

Proof? She doesn’t have qualms about brutally beating up Bakar with all four Buster droids which could give Trez a run for money, until Bakar is black and blue and got cracked in the armor all over. She also don’t mind killing Bakar and Ali by self destructing the bunker as a dirty tactic to run away with UNO. But that doesn’t mean I hate her. In fact, I love her…as a villain. I hope she returns with UNO in Season 2 as they start cooking up new plans in order to enact their evil scheme. Huwahahaha…

Surprise, surprise. In this episode, after all the nerve-wrecking action, we see Ali arriving at school on time. Yay! And manages to answer a question from his teacher correctly. Double yay! Finally, Ali improves in his studies. He also tries to go on good terms with Alicia by giving her a friendly hello…which she dismiss off.

Jeez.

Apparently Alicia still isn’t on close terms with Ali, and doesn’t seem open about having a relationship with Ali. No, no, not that other relationship. She even says that they’re both tied. He had saved her life, and she had saved his life as well. So, they’re even. They are done. Jeez, from an emotional view, I really wished she hadn’t saved Ali from the self destruction of the bunker. But plotwise, that’s the logical thing to do. Guess I just have to bear with it.

Derp

The episode ends on a rather light note, and a teensy, teensy bit lacklustre. It seems as if nothing has changed. Everyone is alive and the base is back under working order. The TERAS leaders are getting the hang of things again and Ali gets reunited with IRIS under unfortunate circumstances(but we totally seen that coming, hahaha). Oh, yeah. Ali gets enrolled into MATA’s spy academy. Yay. No, no, no. Don’t midunderstand me. I actually love the idea of Ali entering a spy academy. It shows that Ali has proven himself to be a worthy agent, and his journey as an agent is still going. But if I am to watch another season of Ejen Ali solely and primarily because of this reason, the chances are you seeing me doing so is so-so.

But we all know that there is more than meets the eye here. We know that there is more story hidden under the surface. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Which is why I use the word ‘seem’. Yeah, sure everyone is alive but Rizwan is terribly wounded by this ordeal-physically and emotionally. I mean, his mentor turn evil and tried to conquer MATA. How sad is that? That’s just heartbreaking when you think of it. UNO and the traitorous Jenny is still out there, probably planning another plan on how to take over mentor with the number four agent.

Wait, number four?

Yes. You see, Jenny’s codename is Cinco. Cinco is Spanish for ‘five’. So, we have:

UNO(Djinn/Rizwan’s mentor)=One

Dos(That purple female spy)=Two

Trez(That big shockwave guy)=Three

Cinco(Jenny)=Five

So where’s four? It couldn’t be Dr. Aaron because he came rather late into the group. Besides, he isn’t really a member of it. He was forced to served to under them. Heheh, poor guy. It’s possible that Quantro(Spanish for four) is responsible for providing Dos, Trez, and UNO all those special high tech gadgets, including UNO’s special armor which could block IRIS from reading on him and his bionic arm(which has been destroyed by IRIS, heheh). Also, there is that thing about the TERAS leaders. There seems to be a conspiracy going around them. What does this mean? Are the TERAS leaders the real bad guys? Are they attempting to take over the city? Did they really try to kill Djinn during their mission to retrieve the Azuriums several years ago? This is the real main reason I am excited for Season 2.

Also, we still haven’t know about the fate about Ali’s mother and his cat Labu? Is his mother really dead? Will we see the return of Labu in the future? And what are those mysterious group of researchers who were experimenting on Comot, making her the special spy cat we all know and love? All of this makes me more excited for the upcoming seasons.

It’s a bit weird that ending doesn’t mention at least one of these stuff even slightly. I mean, none of them mentioned about Jenny’s betrayal in the end for goodness sake. It’s as if (strong emphasis on ‘if) Wau animation had forgotten about these stuff. But I’m pretty sure they didn’t. They would never deliberately ruin the show for us, right? Right? So, to make it short the ending was fine but if it mentioned at least a teensy, teensy bit about those stuff that I had mentioned, it would had been more fine.

Except the part about the number four agent. I prefer it to be made subtle. Because it would be way cooler…

So, as my final verdict I give this Season 1 finale: Override:

9/10

Main reason: The fight scenes are freaking epic!

Favourite scene of the day: IRIS-controlled-Ali vs UNO!

Uwargh…boy that’s a lot of work. After this, I’m gonna take a rest and get going with other stuff. Especially those fiction and fanfictions that have been collecting dust on the shelves. So, don’t expect to hear my thoughts on Boboiboy Galaxy: Episode 7 anytime soon. But don’t worry, with God’s will I will do it in the future. So, don’t worry folks.

Got anything to criticize or didn’t agree with me? Did I spoke anything that is quite sensitive and disturbs the feelings of others? Please tell me in the comments. And if you like stuff like this, support my blog so I can write more goodies like this in the future.

So, see you soon folks!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. Ejen Ali is a property of Wau animation. I don’t own anything. Like really. Nothing.

My thoughts: Ejen Ali: I.R.I.S.

Upin Ipin. One of Malaysia’s first full 3d animated show. The show became a hit among Malaysians and had inspired other amazing shows such as Boboiboy and recently, Ejen Ali.

Despite being aired just last year(by the time this was written),  Ejen Ali received a tremendous amount of support from many Malaysians. In fact, in my opinion, more amount of support compared to Boboiboy when it first aired on Tv.

But don’t worry, Boboiboy. We’ll still love you. We always do.

Since Season One of Ejen Ali is coming to an end, how about we stroll down  the memory lane as we take a look at the episode that started it. Yes, folks. You guessed it. I’m gonna give you guys:

My thoughts:

Ejen Ali: I.R.I.S.

Note: I don’t own anything. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Ejen Ali belongs to Wau animation. Obviously. Also, this not-much-of-a-review is based of my personal opinions. And since it’s based on my personal opinions, I have to warn you, there are possibilities of rants. You heard that right, rants.

Plot summary:

Ali, an ordinary schoolboy who frequently gets bullied and performs poorly in class stumbles upon a mysterious item known as I.R.I.S., which is stolen from a top secret agency by two evil spies, Dos and Trez. And unbeknownst to Ali, he will be involved in a secret evil ploy that could change the world….

Comments:

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Always arrives to school late

Frequently gets bullied

Has a smart aleck best friend who’s in a totally different league from him

Has an “oppressing” teacher who “doesn’t try to understand that the reason he’s late because he’s helping some innocent people, yadda yadda”

Has a cliché smart aleck opposite gender jerkish rival

Performs very, very poorly in school

That’s the immediate impression I had on Ali, the main protagonist when he appeared on screen for the first several minutes. My reaction? Annoyed. And cringed. Urgh! I just hate characters who are Nobita-ish clones. Characters who performed really badly in academics but DOESN’T try to improve their self! He always arrives late and makes no effort of trying to get early to school! He always performed incredibly poorly in exams but doesn’t try to overcome this by studying! All he does is moans to his best bud about how depressing his life is. Pathetic! Annoying! Cringe enducing! Just from the first episode, these feelings had entered in my hearts.

“Oh, but he tries to help an innocent person from getting bullied. Oh, he couldn’t help getting to school late.” Oh, really? That single good quality is supposed to make me love this character? That proves that he is actually a nice good, little kid? Nuh, uh! Zero. If he is really is a “nice” kid, he would make a serious effort to get to school early and improve his results in his exams. But no, he doesn’t. He being lazy. And an annoying character.

Sorry, folks. I’m ranting just now. But seriously, these “Nobita-ish” characters are really annoying. Not just that, there are quite the number of trope being played here which is totally cliché. In the first episode. Story starts with a conflict(in media res)? Check. The bad guy makes a blunder that causes the important thingamajig to fall into the protagonist’s hands? Check. Best friend giving the protagonist a piece of advice(by accident) which will be important later? Check. Jerkish smart aleck opposite gender rival? Urrh…check. 

Looking at these stuff, I had a bad first impression on the series as a whole. I might had stepped away from the coach with a feeling at loathness at this series and given it a-I don’t know-a 3/10 or something. But thank God I managed to be patient and hang on for more. Because there IS more to the series than meets the eye.

 I had to praise Wau animation for this. They pulled off a concept that managed to flip me(and possibly other people) on the head and get invested in the series.

The I.R.I.S. a.k.a Infinite. Retinal. Intelliginece. System.

I.R.I.S. The thingamajig which is stolen from the secret spy agency by Dos and Trez. I.R.I.S. The special thing which the Big Bad of apparently wants to ensure his evil plans could succeed. I.R.I.S. The special thingamajig which accident;t falls into the hand of Ali, which will(supposedly) make him all powerful and awesome so he can defeat those baddies.

At first, I thought this IRIS thingamajig is gonna be an ordinary item. Oridnary, as in cliché or something like that. But, boy was I wrong. When Ali activated IRIS for the first time, we found out that by using I.R.I.S., Ali can predict and expect incoming dangers, and by following I.R.I.S.s’ suggestions, Ali can negate the dangers and even counter it. How cool is that?! Thanks to the I.R.I.S., Ali managed to save himself from getting squashed by those dastardly evil agents into a pancake. By using I.R.I.S., Ali can also analyse his enemies, which is why from the very first episode, we are able to know that Trez had cybernetic arms. Cybernetic arms? Hmm…interesting.

This makes IRIS a very, very cool, amazing and an awesome weapon. In fact, probably the coolest, most amazing, and most awesome spy weapon I had ever seen in spy fiction history. Not just by it's name, but by it's function. Seriously, had you ever seen a weapon that could amazingly predict your opponents movements with precise ease, and even offers option on how to counter them?! I don’t think so. However, it does have a major weakness. It’s power source doesn’t came from batteries or power generators but it came from…the user itself.

No, not his soul. His body energy. Using the IRIS too long will cause Ali to get tired and faint. So, he can’t use it for a long duration. It’s a major weakness, but I’m fine with it. Why? Because it avoids IRIS being an overpowered weapon. I mean, it can predict every single movement from the enemies and provides options to counter every one of them. How powerful is that?! There’s also another fault to the IRIS. When  Ali activated IRIS, it sync with Ali’s…iris. As a result, only Ali can use IRIS as his…iris is the only one which is compatible with IRIS. Other peoples’…irises aren’t compatible with IRIS, so they can’t use it. Oh, well. At least, the bad guys couldn’t use it too.

There’s a mystery going on around this IRIS. You see, M.A.T.A., the good secret spy agency in this series has been undergoing the IRIS project for quite some time. But, they later cancelled the project and abandoned because according to General Rama, the higher ups in M.A.T.A., early tests showed some dangerous risks. What risks? Why would you guys shut down the project to create this ultimate weapon? Is there actually a dark, deep secret behind the cancellation of the project?

At this time, you can bet I’m invested in this series. Thanks to IRIS. The most awesome thing in spy fiction history.

BTW, I guess I hadn’t mentioned yet, but just by the first episode only, the animation is already looking good. The detailing are amazing, especially on those high tech images and the characters hairs. Oh, gosh. The hair. The hair. The hair. The character movements, though sometimes wonky looks good most of the time. It’s obvious, from Upin Ipin through Boboiboy until now, Malaysia’s 3d animation industry is constantly improving and becaming an impressive piece of art. Ejen Ali also has pretty voice good acting. Dos’ voice is my favourite. So, my:

Final verdicts:

I give Ejen Ali: I.R.I.S. a;

9/10

There are quite the number of clichés that can be seen here. Even annoying ones. But the I.R.I.S. concept is something that people probably didn’t expect. It’s concept is so cool and awesome, and in my opinion, saved the show and made it awesome. There is one scene that I’m not particularly fond of. You know, the part where Dos kicks Bakar’s “precious”? But, meh. I’ll just let it slide.

Got anything to criticize or don’t agree with me? Tell it in the comments. And if you like stuff like this, support my blog so I can write more goodies like this in the future. Like, I don’t know, the second episode of Ejen Ali?

So, see you soon folks!

My Top 10 Favourite Characters in Boboiboy(the original series)

Top 10 favourite characters in Boboiboy(the original series)

Over the course of five years, the Boboiboy franchise had run over 50 episodes and a movie, which introduced a number of characters. Some were heroes, some were villains, some like to scam people with insane price levels and some are just plain background fodder. Today, among all these many characters I'm gonna do a list of my top ten favourite characters that are introduced in the original Boboiboy series and the movie.

P.S. This lists includes characters which are introduced for the first time in the Boboiboy series and Boboiboy the Movie. Characters that appeared for the first time in Boboiboy Galaxy won't be included. Example, Motobot.

P.S.S. I won't count Boboiboy's separate forms(Boboiboy Blaze, Boboiboy Thunderstorm, etc) as separate characters because they are all basically Boboiboy. Speaking of him,

P.S.S.S. I won't be counting Boboiboy because...well, umm, err, he's the main character. Yeah, yeah, he's the main character. There, you have it.

P.S.S.S.S. This list is based on my opinion.

P.S.S.S.S.S. Wow, that's a lot of P.S.s.

With that, let's get to the list!

10. Papazola

Papazola? Really? That very, very annoying guy who keeps making foolish antics all the time?

Yeah, that one.

I know not everyone will choose him as their favorite character. It's perfectly understandable. He's really, really annoying. Seriouly, just watch the whole Season 2 and a couple of Season 3 episodes and you'll understand. Urgh. "So, if you find him annoying why is he on your list?" you might say. Well, even though I find him annoying, I also find him pretty funny. He delivers the best lines-apart from Boboiboy's tagline-and pulls of some of the best acts in the series. His hilarious character gives comedy to this franchise, which is one of the reasons why this franchise is so awesome. In my opinion, that is.

But he isn't just a comic relief character. He's a caring character, who loves his students so, so much-even if he sometimes leave them when things get tough. But hey, they're superheroes. They can handle themselves. So, that justifies Papazola's actions, I guess. There are also a few instances where he helped Boboiboy and his friends during dire situations.

During the Boboibot arc, Who was responsible for Boboiboy gaining his water power, thus enabling him to defeat Boboibot?

Papazola.

During the movie, who saved J-Rex's life, which causes J-Rex to save his and Boboiboy and his friends in return?

Papazola.

During Boboiboy Galaxy Episode 6, who-whoops! Spoiler alert! I can't tell you. There might be people who hadn't watched that episode yet.

Because of your contributions, Papazola, I think you deserve a spot on my list.

9. Adudu

The main antagonist of the series, and a very typical villain, right? 'Cause all he do is failing every time he tries to defeat the main protagonist and constantly beats up his incompotent sidekick for being a fool. Yup, very typical. But for some reason, I like him. What's the reason? I like him because he's the type of villain who:
A. has a dark backstory
B. looks super freaking cool
C. turned good
D. killed people

The answer is...you guess it, D! Just kidding, of course it's C. I was thrilled when, during early season 3, Adudu decided to be good. Because having a bad guy-who's sole purpose is to oppose the good guys-turning into good-which means siding with the good guys-is so cool! I enjoyed those moments during season 3 where Adudu and Boboiboy work together to help citizens with their daily problems, kick some villains who dares to disturb the peace, and save the day. Ahh, the good times...Until his mother arrived and made him return to evil.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(goes on for three months three weeks three days three nights three hours three minutes three seconds)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.........

Okay, I calmed down.

Yeah, when this moment happened, I felt dissapointed. Yeah, I knew that Monsta has to revert him to evil because they still need a villain for Boboiboy to beat up. But, the dissapointment is still there. Thankfully, I had learn to let that feeling go and watch future episodes of Boboiboy without any feeling of contempt. Though, I still miss good Adudu. But I think, maybe, just MAYBE in the future Adudu will return to good and join Boboiboy and his gang on their quest to catch all those poke search all of the power spheres before they fall into the hands of evil aliens. It isn't confirmed yet(and it may take a few seasons for this to happen), but it's a possibility that I am looking forward to.

Before Adudu dies in a tragic way that leaves a permanent scar on Boboiboy and his buddies. That would be so cool.

                                                                        8.Tok Aba

Tok Aba brings the show the element that is currently fading in the western world. Family love. Sure he isn't Boboiboy's real father, but he's Boboiboy's grandfather. That's pretty close enough. He provides Boboiboy the family love when his parents aren't there for him because they are...in space? Because by looking at the postcard they sent to Boboiboy, it seems like they took a picture from a spaceship or something. What are they doing in space? Could they actually be aliens? Or one of them is an alien? Then that would mean Boboiboy is an alien descendant! That might explain that glorious white strands of hair he has on his head. 

Well, I guess that's a theory for another day.

...

...

...

Yeah, I have nothing else to say. Sorry. Moving on!

7. Kokoci a.k.a. Ciciko a.k.a That pimp alien in the blackglasses

He appeared as a very, very minor character in the movie, but plays an important role in the movie, in a way I bet fans didn't expect. Without his help, Boboiboy and his friends would had been crushed by Borara and his team. After watching the movie, I thought it will take quite some time before he returns in Galaxy, as a minor character.

Boy, I was so wrong.

P.S. I'm not THAT surprised. Just a little bit.

In the first episode, he is the first character to appear on screen-with Motobot, of course and excluding the prolouge. From the first episode only, we find out that SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO SOMEHOW HADN'T WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE YET he is a member of the T.A.P.O.P.S. group and he is travelling the galaxy to search for power spheres before they fall into the hands of evil, dastardly aliens SPOILER ENDS. Thus, he plays an important role in the series. Dude, I really should had seen this coming.

Seeing a very, very minor character getting introduced as a main character in the new series makes me excited. This opens opportunities for major character development for Kokoci. Maybe we get to see Kokoci's past. Like, the time when he got enrolled into TAPOPS. His stance as the ONLY Atata Tiga alien who isn't a power hungry or a money scamming dude makes him more interesting. Also,  love that blackglasses gag.

6. Gaganaz

Ganaz a.k.a. Ganas which translates to Malay means Fierce. And Gaganaz certainly lives up to that. He is one of the biggest and bulkiest Atata Tiga aliens ever seen and if that isn't enough he has two cybernetic arms on his back. And with the jets on his back, he can fly if needed. Yup, you heard it right. He can fly.

At this point, you might think he couldn't get any more dangerous. Think again, because he has one final trump card. Thanks to his cybernetic modifications, he has to ability to undergo metamorphosis which causes his body to grow larger and bigger-roughly doubling his orginal size! Thus, increasing his strength and...leaving him shirtless. I bet he's lucky his lower body is made out of metal.

But anyway, you couldn't deny Gaganaz is the one of the most fierce, brutal and biggest(figuratively and literally) threat Boboiboy and his friends had ever faced. Which is why Tengkotak is the most powerful and feared power-sphere-hunting-team in the galaxy.

5. Boboibot

Adudu created this robot copy of Boboiboy in order to imitate his powers and looks-and at the same time overpower him. Hence, the name. Yeah, it's a pun. But when Boboibot first appeared on television, I though he was supposed to be a mindless robot, just like his other minions. But, then to my surprise he actually has a personality. Like Probe. Which is cool! I could describe his personality as self-absorbed, proud, prideful, smooth-tongued, a jerk and egoistic. Yeah, even robots have egos. This can be seen during Season 3 Episode 20, when Boboibot is declared a failure by Adudu because he failed to defeat Boboiboy Water, and couldn't even use his new water power efficiently. Boboibot, enraged decided to show of his true potential. By drowning the entire island. Yup, this robot definitely has an ego.

Another interesting about him is he is the second elemental power user in the series. And I'm pretty sure you guys knew, people with elemental pwoer are awesome. Just look at Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra. They are elemental users, and they know how to whoop out all of their foes. With powers based of Boboiboy, and enhanced by Adudu, Boboibot became one of Boboiboy's toughest foes. He died in the same season he was introduced, but we fans still loved him, and wished he would return in Galaxy for another duke against upgraded Boboiboy.


Or that's just me.

4. Yaya Yah

One of the main cast in the series, and constantly getting shipped with Boboiboy because, well, they are both muslims, and Malayans. Just like me! And my family. And most of the people living in Malaysia. It's even in the name. The one thing that makes her stand out is her design. A covered fully covered clothing, from head to toe. Okay, it's a muslimah design. Happy? But, you gotta admit, even in her-urgh-muslimah design she still looks cool. Which proves girls can look cool without wearing clothes that exposed their, umm, err, hmm, body. Yeah, body. That's what I'm trying to say. Body. Seriously, how the friggin heck gosh, damn it someone could feel comfortable wearing clothes like that?!!! And don't start with those beach party clothes. Urgh. Jeez.

Beside wearing modest clothes, she is also very caring. Always looking out for others and protecting them from danger, not just towards her friends but including everyone. Including animals. And aliens. She prefers peace over fighting and if she could, she would like to avoid hurting anybody. But if she had to, she would certainly give you a good beating. No, seriously she would probably punch you to the moon.

Though, I would prefer a different colour for her. Pink just seems stereotypical to me.

P.S. Anybody who had seen Boboiboy Galaxy Episode 5, do you notice that Yaya seem to have a crush on Boboiboy. Or I am just being too imaginative?

3. Ejojo

From what I seen, he is the first villain introduced in the series who is such a jerk!

Really, he's so arrogant, cocky, stuck up, cruel, and a bunch of other bad attributes. But at the same time, it what makes him an interesting character, showing that not everybody is good and kind and goody-goody. His red mark on his face, is it a scar? A tattoo? A birthmark? This is yet to be revealed.

He poses a major threat towards Boboiboy and his friends near the end of season 2 and early season 3. Especially since he had a Battle Robot and an armour. His cruelty and sadistic personality makes him seems like a green mini version of Borara. He also knows how to pull off some convincing acts, such as cowering in fear. But in the end, thanks to his rival and Boboiboy's team up, he had to whimper back home in defeat. He attempted to get an upgrade in order to get back at Boboiboy for revenge but when he returned to Earth, he was unfortunate enough to stumble upon the greatest space rebel in the galaxy.

After being defeated by Kaizo, he was last seen teleported into Kaizo's spaceship and his fate afterwards is unknown. Is he being chucked off to a space prison, just like the rest of the Tengkotak members? Who knows?

Should you love it? Or hate him? I would go for the "Love to hate", and I really want him to return in Boboiboy Galaxy as Boboiboy's big villain for the season.

Also, he kinda had a tendency to name his stuff after embarassing stuff.

2. Borara

Borara. One of Boboiboy's biggest villains. He manages to pose a major threat towards Boboiboy and his friends because:
-has a team of deadly aliens, each with their own powers/abilities and roles in the team
-has a big spaceship, filled with guns and blasters should they need to chase down a big target, or get engulfed in a space battle. Not to mention, it houses deadly weapons. One which is a robot land shark...
-masters the black hole manipulation power
-if looks could kill, children who stumbled upon him might faint in fear(get what I mean?)
-has a battle armor, equipped with a battle hammer which can be used together with his black hole power
-is an absolute jerk, cruel, sadistic, and other stuff like that
-cool...
Wait. What does cool, being a jerk and cruel has to do with anything? Nothing. It's just what he seems in my eye. He is such a cool, amazing, threatening, powerful, awesome, deadly villain that has ever appeared in the series. And I love villains that are cool, amazing, powerful, awesome and deadly. That's why I'm having him as my second favourite character in the series.

Wait. Not the first? Yup. Sorry, Borara but I had someone else in my mind. This guy isn't a villain(well, not exactly) but he is also cool, amazing, threatening, powerful, awesome and deadly. And according to a theory widzilla brought up, this guy is responsible for you to lose your ear. Yes, folks. It's deadly obvious. My number one favourite character is...

1. Pak Senin Cowboy's Cat!

"Dunk!"

Oww! Err, I mean,...

1. Captain Kaizo

I have one thing to say about Captain Kaizo. He is the Best Character To Ever Exist!!! He has such a cool design who looks so anime. Or anime-esque. Animesque? Animesh? This guys at Mosnta have really good taste. They also know how to make him such a powerful character, equipping him with an energy sword,  blue-wavey-stuff-that-is-called-energyenergy manipulation power, high agility and flexibility and good swordsmanship skills.

Even though he only appeared for three episodes(not counting cameo appearances), he manages to proved himself as a powerful match against Boboiboy. He:
-destroyed Ejojo's P.E.T.A.I.(pfft) armor with a few simple moves
-punched through Fang's Shadow Shield
-sliced and diced Fang's Shadow Fingers
-blocked Boboiboy's Earth Golem's punch
-kicked the Earth Golem to dust
-stopped Boboiboy's Thunderstrom Slash by simply holding the Thunderstorm Sword(well, he encased his hand with energy, but still...)
-bested Boboiboy Thunderstorm, one of Boboiboy's most powerful forms, in a sword fight
-and broke the Thunderstorm Sword to pieces...
-broke Fang's Invisibility Mask
-able to dodge multiple fast moving Winds Discs
-sliced Boboiboy Cyclone's Hoverboard
-projected a Forcefield so strong it required three Earth Golems to break it
-still able to stand and walk after being severely beaten up to the point his mask cracked
-took out the three Earth Golems with a single FINGER SNAP
-man, he sure does have a habit of breaking things, ehh?

It's obvious we hadn't seen his full potential yet. How does he finger-snapped those Earth Golems to death? I bet, if Kaizo had really gone all out, Boboiboy wouldn't stand a chance. Well, at least his pre-movie state.

He also has an interesting character. You see, he's a famed space rebel across the galaxy. He is on a quest to search the galaxy for power spheres to avoid their powers to fall into evil hands. Oh. So that makes him a good guy, right? Well...

Not exactly.

Because while his intentions are good, his actions are quite violent. I mean, he tries to kill Boboiboy and his friends because they didn't want to comply with him. They are freaking around 11, dude! Kaizo believes that violence is the best method in his quest, which explains his actions.

So, he is basically an antihero. A guy who has heroic intentions but takes actions in unheroic ways. Marvel and DC has tons of these characters, and now Malaysia has their own too. How cool!

His background is pretty shady, as antiheroes always do. Why did he became a space rebel? Why did he believe in an ideology like that? What happened to Fang and his parents? Where did he get all those cool looking stuff? This are all good potential for character development. And, seeing that the blue streaked Captain is confirmed to return in the series, along with his lieutenant, I am estactic for him to appear on screen and have a clash of ideologies against Boboiboy.


So, there you have it folks. My top 10 favourite characters. What do you think? Got any objections? Felt like your character isn't on the list? Feel free to comment below. And if you love stuff like this, follow my blog for more. Cheerio!

By the way, I don't own anything. They all belong to their respective owners.