After the Crimson Chin was established way back in ‘Super Humor‘, it’s about time for him to make a return and get fleshed out more. While ‘Chin Up!’ is quite different than what you would expect for the hero’s more prominent intro, it still makes for a generally solid story that adds a good amount of depth for such a silly character.
The segment, as you may expect, does poke fun at nerd culture, but it’s pretty clear that it was being done out of love. While the convention at the beginning is only present for a couple minutes in total, it’s clear that the writers understood nerds and weren’t too mean-spirited about it. Sure, there is the fact that the name of the convention includes “Reality Avoidance”, but even that is done in a rather tongue-in-cheek way.
That kind of good-natured ribbing also works its way when it portrays the pulpy comics that the Crimson Chin is clearly a parody of. The stylization of the comic world is amazing, with all the dramatic coloring and dots present in the environments. While Timmy is inside the comic, the segment is always visually great, and it speaks to the amount of care that was present in it.
As for the Crimson Chin himself, the segment basically features him realizing he’s just a fictional character and having an existential crisis about it. It’s kind of hilarious that this was the first story they decided to do focusing on him, but it does lead to a rather engaging character arc for him. Jay Leno voices the Crimson Chin himself, and he manages to capture both the cheesy heroics and down-to-earth attitude with equal talent. Having the Crimson Chin come to terms with the truth and realizing that he’s still a hero to everyone despite being fake is effectively handled, helped by him just being an enjoyable character overall.
Yeah, I don’t have that much to say about this segment, but it is pretty damn good. The Crimson Chin is given a solid intro, Timmy becoming his sidekick as Cleft the Boy Chin Wonder is a neat bonus, and it’ll be fun to see how the show builds onto this later.
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