Megaton Girl: A Wholesome Deadpool

Starting out listening to Megaton Girl might seem like a no brainer. Begin with episode 1 and continue until the end. What happens if there’s a pilot episode as well? If you want the full chronological experience do not listen to the pilot first. If you’re looking to sample the audio drama to see whether you want to keep listening, go with the pilot first.

After the Megaton Decision is Made

Chronologically the pilot takes place between episodes four and five. It both throws you into the deep end and provides a lifeboat. Compared to the first episode, the pilot is also less than a quarter of its runtime. Put another way, the first episode is over an hour long. The pilot is around 16 minutes. Perhaps because the first episode is the length of some movies, it can certainly feel like it drags in places. This makes the decision of what to start with even harder. My own personal opinion, start with the pilot and go straight to episode two. You can figure out most of the context through the dialogue. That is, if you don’t care about how Megaton Girl got her powers, the start of her and Monarch’s relationship, or how the writer works in a Jack Kirby easter egg that’s clearly an homage to the king of comics.

Previously on Megaton Girl Episode 1

Connie got her powers from a meteor that landed near her and Laurel’s first date as a couple after being best friends for years. Connie calls her power the “gut buster” and the mixing makes it sounds like a radioactive sonic scream.

Disney Deadpool = Megatons of fun.

The relationship between Connie and her girlfriend is so wholesome and cute I could vomit rainbows. That’s not an insult by any means. I was smiling ear to ear from episode two all the way to the midseason finale. I thought my face might freeze in place at several moments.

Shit gets serious both during and after the midseason finale episode titled “Trial by Fire.” A Loki-level threat a la the first “Avengers” film forces Connie to work alongside Captain Valiant—the personification of toxic masculinity and narcissism.

Attention Deficit Disorder and Black Representation

During a few scenes Laurel’s identity as a black woman gets brought up. if you were going by just show, these may be easy to miss. The wonderful cartoonish cover art of the cast on the Megaton Girl website is a nice companion piece to the show itself. The artwork feels almost like fan art for these characters and that only adds to the wholesomeness and humor of the show.

Episode 3 is where Laurel shines the most. She’s both a fan girl for other super heroes that make appearances in this and later episodes and takes ADD/ADHD medication. This is a small detail that adds depth to her character. She could’ve been just the exposition mouth piece for the heroes in the world and the love interest for the main character. Instead, this part of her identity makes her more real. The fact she works under the epitome of toxic masculinity only adds to her characterization.

Toxic Masculinity, Heroic Actions and Bittersweet Endings

The story after the midseason finale gets more somber as it goes. It’s to the point that it feels like an entirely different story. The story swaps character comedy for growth and melancholy. Using humor is a good way to hook someone into a story, but the transition from it to serious subject matter is almost always jarring if the pace slows down even a little. That’s what you get with the Superman-inspired hero called Magnanimous and his scenes with Megaton Girl

The conversation between Magnanimous and Megaton Girl about Magnanimous’ love life goes on a bit long. Blood Oath’s identity isn’t revealed so much as told to the audience. Despite his badass opening with obvious Deathstroke vibes, the character behind the mask makes decisions based on the plot. His anger toward Magnanimous works in theory, but how bad was it actually if one conversation changed his perception? The ending is somber and only works because of the info dump throughout the episode. For someone we barely met, this character’s death hit harder than it should have.

All in all, Megaton Girl is ear to ear smiles and constant laughter at the cuteness and wholesomeness of the show, bogged down only by the finale.

8.5/10+ stars