Review: Tigtone “Tigtone and the Chromatic Crossage”

Overview(Spoilers Below):

Tigtone and Helpy find themselves playing peacekeepers to a fractured nation when their actions unintentionally throw a rainbow-colored land into turmoil. A simple quest that revolves around a special prism turns out to fuel a power-hungry villain and leaves Tigtone and Helpy to pick up the pieces. However, the fallout leaves Tigtone and Helpy separated and forced to face odd enemies as they take part in separate quests with a common goal.

Our Take:

Tigtone has tackled many different subsets of the fantasy genre, but “Tigtone and the Chromatic Crossage” is like a glimpse into what Minecraft and Care Bears would look like if they were created by renowned French comic book artist, Moebius (Jean Giraud). It’s an entry that features odd polygonal creatures known as Fuzzlefolk and Zuzzlekins that are as adorable as they are unnerving, yet it also contains tyrannical steampunk figures that skew towards revolution that feel like they could easily be contemporaries to the renegades within works like Heavy Metal or The Incal. It’s a weird mash-up of sensibilities, but Tigtone is a series that thrives in weirdness and whether this anachronistic pairing of material is intentional or not, it makes for a compelling environment for this episode’s rainbow-colored chaos to take place.

Every episode of Tigtone has looked strangely beautiful in its own way and even the disturbing beasts that are featured in each new entry still manage to convey a certain artistic ambition. “Tigtone and the Chromatic Crossage” is perhaps the season’s best example of this as it features a cornucopia of lush visuals. It takes the brightness of a prismatic world of joy and steeps it in Tigtone’s standard brand of testosterone and manic bloodshed. The episode’s finale, in particular, is stunning.

Kaleidra-Scoptor, Brain-Bow, and Rain-Bone are exactly the kind of nonsense that I hope to encounter in an episode of Tigtone that touches on multicolored madness. Each of Tigtone’s storylines contain such a perfect combination of ideas where it’s able to make nonsensical characters of this nature feel justified and like they’re as established of creatures as a dragon or ogre. If there is any justice in the world, “Kaleidra-Scoptor” will become the new shorthand for any rainbow-based creatures from out of the fantasy genre, although I’m mildly disappointed that in the case of this episode of Tigtone it doesn’t refer to a multicolored velociraptor. Rainbow skeletons and nervous systems will just have to do instead.

Every episode of Tigtone this season has gotten slightly better and more determined in its storytelling and insanity. “Tigtone and the Chromatic Crossage” doesn’t break that trend and is the show at its best and weirdest. Despite how Tigtone never stops thinking about himself and his own interests, this is still able to help a nation that’s in need and inspire change, even if that’s just a side effect to Tigtone’s awesomeness. It’s one of the more satisfying conclusions to an episode of the series. The cooperation between Tigtone and Helpy continues to be a highlight and these episodes still feel unique and unpredictable even when there’s a familiar structure in place. No color in the spectrum can stop a determined Tigtone and Helpy.