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Love, Death & Robots is an anthology series on Netflix with a unique blend of sci-fi, horror, and comedy. Some episodes are animated, while others lean into a realistic or CGI art style. The best part of Love, Death & Robots is not knowing what to expect next with each episode, and they never disappoint.
Love, Death & Robots: Volume 3 slaps from the first episode. It’s a series of animated shorts aimed at adults, so there’s an ungodly amount of blood, gore, and adult themes. I ranked all nine episodes in this article, from my least favourite to my favourite.
“Mason’s Rats”
This episode follows a Scottish farmer who purchases a small military-grade army of robots to fight off an army of rats that have infested his barn. The fact that this episode ends with the rats and the farmer calling a truce and sharing a drink made by the rats did not sit well with the Nigerian in me. Sentient or not, rats are disgusting. It’s an excellent episode. I just don’t support rats as living things.
This episode would have been my least favourite if “Mason’s Rats” had featured any other animal but rats. Kill Team Kill tells the story of a military squad who goes up against a genetically modified grizzly bear. The guys in the unit spend all their time making penis jokes, swearing at each other, and being in a non-stop blood bath. It’s short but super chaotic. The good thing is that they die quickly enough for you to move on. If you like a weird mix of action and comedy, this is for you.,
“Swarm”
Swarm tells the story of two opportunistic scientists trying to learn the secrets of an alien hive to improve humanity. The whole episode features humans doing what they do best: exploiting and attempting to colonise and builds up to an underwhelming sex scene. On a deeper level, there’s the fundamental question of whether the aliens or the humans are being exploited. That question is never answered, though, and the story ends unresolved—shoutout to it for at least being the only episode to touch on the theme of love.
“Night of the Mini Dead”
In this episode, two foolish humans decide to have sex in a cemetery, triggering a series of unfortunate events that wipes out humanity via a zombie apocalypse. The gag of the episode is the stop motion animation method and the camera angle that makes the humans look like ants with squeaky voices. Anyway, I blame konji for all of this.
“Three Robots: Exit Strategies”
Our favourite robot trio from volume one returns in this episode and continues their journey through the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Earth. They went to the last bunker for rich people, specifically an oil rig for millionaires and tech-bros. They found out that it was where the first robot uprising began because those guys had no survival skills and relied heavily on machines—the shade. The three of them criticised humans back and forth and made several points, but the real gag was the end, where the iconic line “Who were you expecting, Elon Musk?” was said after they showed us who finally made it to Mars.
Similar to Kill Team Kill (a military squad goes on a mission to take out some terrorists in Afghanistan and ends up trying to take out a monster. A lot of the plot would not exist if they’d seen the tomb, said “fuck no”, and gone home, but what’s the fun in that? The animation style is so realistic that when the sole survivor cut off her ears and gouged her eyes at the end, I nearly fainted. This episode is just the right amount of action and horror, so if you like movies like Aliens vs Predator, you’ll enjoy this one.
“Bad Travelling”
In Bad Travelling, a sentient crab boards a ship containing a group of shark hunters and begins killing some of the crew. It forces the captain to take it to an island so it can kill more innocent people. The captain is torn between saving the rest of his crew and saving the people’s lives on the island. This episode will have you at the edge of your seat, and you’ll have to remember to breathe. It’s that good.
“The Very Pulse of the Machine”
This episode is the ultimate trip and will make you question everything about existence. When it ends, you’ll wonder if you were high the entire time. An astronaut is stranded on one of Jupiter’s moons and has to drag the corpse of her comrade to safety. Along the way, She taps into the planet’s consciousness after taking drugs that make her hallucinate, and it claims to be a sort of machine. She starts to hear her dead companions talking to her, and we’re unsure if she’s hallucinating or if the moon is a machine talking to her. She sha made near-death feel beautiful right up to the ending. The colour choice and music were vital in making this entire episode beautiful.
“Jibaro”
This twisted episode left chills down my spine. Not a word was uttered between the two characters, but somehow that made it heavier. “Jibaro” follows a deaf knight whose entire battalion is killed by a siren-like creature covered in gold and jewels. She becomes obsessed with this man maybe because her cries have no effect on him, and at her most vulnerable, this man rips up all the gold and jewels from her body in the most horrific manner. Lowkey, it makes you feel like you’re having an anxiety attack, and the music sure doesn’t help, but that tension and the almost life-like animation stylish make it brilliant. It’s both disturbing and mesmerising with fantastic storytelling.
Animation in Nigeria still has a long way to go, but it’s great to finally see creators and studios creating content for the Nigerian audience. While the industry is relatively small, it’s doing a fantastic job in creating new worlds in a style that appeals to the Nigerian aesthetic. Here are seven cartoons you didn’t know were created by Nigerians.
1.Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters
Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters Is a film about a selfish little girl, Bukky, that makes a wish which goes haywire and finds herself turned into a bucket far away from home, on an adventure of a lifetime. This film has all the feels and is a fun watch for kids and adults alike. The best part was seeing a Nigerian scenery and Nigerian kids dancing to Nigerian songs.. Even though the accents sound like something from Wakanda, Lady Buckit and the Mothey Mopsters is a fresh breath of air.
Spoof Animation, one of Nigeria’s leading 2D animation studios, created this animated short film.. Hero Corps features recurring characters from their older animation, StrikeGuard, and is a short animation about superheroes in Nigeria fighting villains that are not politicians which is refreshing and I’m here for it. Spoof Animation also has short comedies like Area Daddy and has recently released a teaser for their new animated feature film, AJAKA.
This was one of the most popular Nigerian made cartoons in 2012. It follows the lives of two hilarious characters Aje and Kpako. They were funny and every Nigerian kid could definitely relate to their struggles.
A Place to Play Is an animated short film about four boys playing football and disturbing the peace of the neighbourhood, like you’d see on any inner-city street in Nigeria. It features some characters from magic carpet studio’s earlier work, Meet the Igwes. There’s no dialogue in A Place to Play, but it doesn’t stop the story from hitting home. As a child growing up in Nigeria, you get used to being disappointed, from nepa not bringing light after school, to older kids stealing your football. A Place to Play captured the “Nigerian child”essence
Malika, Warrior Queen follows the story of a military commander queen, Malika. She unties her kingdom after her father’s death and goes the extra mile to protect it from enemies, including dragons. . A fantasy animation with a Nigerian woman as the main character? Inject it.
Freak the Fxxk Out is a horror animated series of skits created by Kanso Ogbolu, I just want to say that watching animated horror films about what could easily be your reality does a number on you. If you like horror and gore, this is the one for you.
Garbage Boy and Trash Can Theme won the first Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab Competition. Garbage Boy and Trash Can Theme was created by Ridwan Moshood, an illustrator and animator who heads ToonUp Animation studio. While the style and characters in GBaTCT are very Nigerian, it’s giving early 2000s cartoon network shorts. As a 90’s baby, this cartoon is top tier because it takes me back to simpler times.
You watch some animated films and forget about them because as kids you probably didn’t know how good they were. Some animated films change your life after you watch them and are so feel-good, you could see them ten more times and they would be just as good as the first time. Here are 10 of the best animated films you watched growing up, but probably forgot about.
1. Atlantis
Atlantis had no business being as good as it was. Was it a story of another white man falling in love with a black woman and almost ruining her life? Yes, but Milo was cute, so no wahala. Also, Kida had no business being that hot as an animated character, but am I complaining? Obviously not.
2. Sinbad
I’ve never seen a cartoon character make as many bad choices as Sinbad. This man lied to his best friend, fell in love with his best friend’s fiance, made a pact with the devil (ahn ahn!). At least we got to witness Eris be the hottest thing since sliced bread. I too would have let her ruin my life.
Nigerian parents probably watched this one because it was giving If-he-had-just listened-to-his-mum vibes at first. Treasure Planet made me question if people were good or bad because Silver tried to ruin Jim’s life and steal his treasure, especially after the poor boy had begun to trust him. But when it mattered most, he sacrificed himself and saved Jim’s life. If you watch hentai now, you can probably trace it back to seeing Captain Amelia for the first time.
4. Anastasia
I always felt like this film was some sort of a fever dream because it was just too good. The Once upon a December song takes you on a trip, and while the animation style was certainly…interesting, the storyline gave everything it was supposed to give.
5. 9
Was this film even for kids? Why did our parents let us watch it? If the producers were trying to make us anti-war, they did a pretty fantastic job. It had steampunk vibes, but I recently found out that the animation style used was stitch punk. Anyway, those rag dolls went through a lot, and for what? To traumatise kids?
6. Brother Bear
Every time I think of Brother Bear, it brings tears to my eyes. It also makes me feel like I could hug a bear and not die, which is probably not true. (Fun fact: I bet you didn’t know that Joaquin Phoenix was Kenai’s voice actor). Of course, he did an amazing job making us fall in love with a bear, but what do you expect?
7. The Road to El Dorado
The score of the movie was a masterpiece, and if you can’t remember at least one song, it means you were watching the back of the TV. Why did so many animated shows for kids have that many hot women? Sure, the storyline was great and Tulio and Miguel had good chemistry, but I lived for every scene with Chel. The Road to El Dorado was my second time seeing a babalawo in an animated film. The first was the monkey in Lion King and the second was Tezekel-Kan. Werey man.
8. Monster House
How was this marketed for kids? It was so scary back then, but now it’s a joke because why would a house be pursuing you? Just walk into a river or set it on fire abeg. Or turn around and say, “Kal-El no!”.
9. Meet the Robinsons
This was one of those few Disney movies that understood the assignment and asked for extra sheet. It made me want to grow up and have a family and live a beautiful life with interesting family members, and a wife that trains frogs. It made sense that we all ended up feeling bad for the villain because the man truly deserved better. Also, Goob gave off Doofenshmirtz vibes.
10. Astro Boy
This movie had an all-star cast, so of course, the voice acting was perfect. It’s probably where most people’s interest in Japanese animation came from, because even though it was released over a decade ago, it looks like something that could have been animated in 2021. Charlize Theron narrated the story, and it hit me that I wanted her to narrate my life story, but for free. Tell her to call me.
I was scrolling down my Twitter timeline the other day when I came across a tweet about an old 80s Saturday morning cartoon named, Turbo Teen. Because I’m a sucker for obscure pieces of pop culture (hitting people with pop culture trivia I know they don’t know makes me feel powerful), I went a-googling and scarred myself for life.
So now I have to scar you too. Let’s get to scarring.
The very first line of the show’s Wikipedia entry made my head spin:
“Turbo-Teen is an animated series about a teenager with the ability to transform into a sports car.”
I get it. There was a weird obsession with teenagers in most cartoons and movies in the 80s. There was The Breakfast Club, St Elmo’s Fire, and TMNT (they were teens so don’t @ me). The trend even made it into the 90s with shows like Power Rangers and Captain Planet. Another thing people were obsessed with at the time was Cars (thanks to Knight Rider), and this led to some psychopath coming up with the “bright” idea to merge these two things in an attempt to come up with a popular show.
They were too occupied with if they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
Turbo Teen is about a teenager named Brett Matthews who, while driving his red sports car on a stormy night, accidentally swerves off the road and crashes into (what’s supposed to be) a top-secret government laboratory. In the laboratory, Brett’s car stops in the pathway of the beams emanating from a machine called the Molecular Transfer Ray, and this fuses Brett and his car on a molecular level.
As a result of this fusion, Brett gets the worst superpower since Rogue (from the X-Men). He gains the ability to transform into his fucking sportscar…when exposed to extreme heat and can only return to his human form when exposed to extreme cold. Along with his girlfriend (a journalist), his best friend (a mechanic), and his dog, Brett uses his newfound “superpowers” to fight crime and solve mysteries.
It won’t surprise you to know that this show was cancelled after only one season.
As bizarre as the show’s premise is, what will fuck you up, even more than anything David Cronenberg has thought up, are the unintentionally hella grotesque and horrifying human-to-car transformation sequences which the show’s makers forced viewers to witness in EVERY EPISODE. Check out a video of one of such transformations below:
Everything about this show leaves me with so many questions. Like:
How was this greenlit?
Was this someone’s fetish?
When Brett gets hurt, who does he go to? A doctor or a mechanic. Is that why the writers made his best friend a mechanic?? OH GOD.
Aren’t secret government labs supposed to be hella secure? Have you ever heard of people accidentally swerving into Area 51?
How much crack had the creator(s) of this show eaten when they got this idea?
Does he go everywhere with a flame thrower and freeze gun? (How else would he achieve extreme heat and cold?)
How many times do you think Brett has destroyed his house because he made his bathwater too hot and accidentally turned into the car indoors?
HOW PAINFUL IS THAT FUCKING TRANSFORMATION?! THAT SHIT LOOK LIKE IT HURT!! OH MY GOD!!!
I’m going to end this with a GIF of the part of his transformation that will haunt your dreams.
All we have to do now is pray to God that no one decides to make a live-action version. I’m talking to you, Michael Bay.
The great thing about classic cartoons from the 90s is that they weren’t just fun and games. They also helped shape impressionable young minds with valuable life lessons while eschewing the cheesiness of Afterschool Specials.
Cartoons like:
1. Johnny Bravo
Johnny constantly getting turned down by women regardless of his good looks and charm taught us that while confidence is a good thing, too much confidence will most likely get you punched in the face and or spat on (i.e. unsolicited and relentless flirting is not the way to go when approaching a woman).
Also, the way he would pick himself up after each rejection (like nothing embarrassing happened) helped teach that rejection is a normal part of life.
2. Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo’s first lesson was to not judge a book by its cover. Most episodes featured a red herring character who the Scooby gang always believed was responsible for whatever was going on JUST because said character was creepy looking.
Secondly, each episode of the show’s original format ended with the reveal that the monster-of-the-week was really just a human wearing a costume. The key takeaway from this was that in real life, humans are the real monsters.
3. Sponge Bob
The show about the living sponge taught about the power of positivity. In the face of disasters hitting Bikini Bottom, Mr Krab’s annoying penny pinching, and Squidward’s eternal funk, Spongebob was always so damn positive. Something we need more of in the world today.
4. Powerpuff Girls
Powerpuff Girls was all about girl power and the fact that sometimes, big things do come in little packages. It also worked hard to destroy the concept of gender stereotypes. Here’s a conversation the girls had when trying to figure out the gender of a new neighbour based on the their property and Bubbles was being hella unwoke.
5. Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote is the dictionary definition of perseverance. Could he have tried eating some other animal? Yes. Did that ever occur to him? Occasionally (he tried eating Bugs Bunny a couple of times). But he was so intent on catching the Road Runner that he spent 3 DECADES going after it, gravely injuring himself in the process with his numerous malfunctioning contraptions.
And his perseverance paid off in the end. A lot of people don’t know this but he actually caught the Road Runner in an episode of the show released in 1980.
Then this happened:
6. Ed, Edd n Eddy
Watching Ed, Edd, and Eddy spend the better part of their teenage years trying (and failing) to scam their friends and family out of money to buy candy taught us all that NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SECURING THE BAG.
7. Captain Planet
Mostly primary coloured superhero, Captain Planet, and his impossibly racially diverse group of Planeteers set out every episode to stop villains who were hell-bent on destroying the Earth via various environmentally unsafe activities (e.g. deforestation, poaching, pollution etc).
A bit more obvious about its intentions than the other shows on this list, the show taught kids about environmentalism by showing the dangers of activities harmful to the environment using the typical monster-of-the-week format. It even explored themes like drug abuse and HIV/AIDS discrimination, topics no kids show at the time would’ve touched with a 6-foot pole.
BONUS ENTRY: Super Book
The most exciting thing to come out of the religious genre since Mel Gibson’s “The Torture Passion of the Christ,” this show taught me that the Butterfly Effect is a scam. If I ever get my hands on a time machine, I am going to the past to intentionally fuck shit up, confident that, like Yuri and Gizmo’s adventures in biblical times, it will have no effect on my present/future.
From the stables of EVCL studios is this cartoon series aimed at educating children between the preschool and toddler ages.
Learning just got more interesting and creative.
The cartoon series was created to reach out to African children within and outside the continent by providing information on African history through entertainment and fun.
The need to help African children connect with their heritage prompted the EVCL team to create the series in 2010.
The characters are siblings who go on really awesome adventures with their friend, Zeena the butterfly.
Based in a modern African city setting, Bino and Fino live with their grandparents, Mama Mama and Papa Papa.
Topics such as female empowerment, geography and also the ways of life of people of other cultures are explored during their adventures.
The cartoon has been viewed across countries like Nigeria, South Africa and even the UK.
Some of their videos are on their Youtube channel, while more episodes can be bought off their website.
You can watch the official trailer of Bino and Fino here.
