OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes "Crossover Nexus" (partially found original 22-minute version of Cartoon Network animated series episode; 2010s)

Title card.

Status: Partially Found

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is an action-comedy animated series that premiered on August 1st, 2017, and ended on September 6th, 2019, and was created by Ian Jones-Quartey. It chronicles the adventures of a young boy named K.O., who dreams of becoming a hero, and wants to achieve his goal by working with his older co-workers Rad and Enid at Gar's Bodega, a convenience store in Lakewood Plaza Turbo.

On October 8th, 2018, an episode titled "Crossover Nexus" premiered, and it was a crossover between 4 different Cartoon Network series. It was 11 minutes in length, but originally, the crew was making a 22-minute version of the episode.

Plot

Two unknown shadowed figures are running and hiding from an evil villain named Strike. Strike, tired with the two unknown figures' hiding, decides to summon another hero to kill, and ends up summoning K.O. He is almost killed before one of the shadowed figures saves him from death. This shadowed figure turns out to be Garnet from Steven Universe, and the other figure is revealed to be Ben 10 from the series of the same name. They meet each other, and then quickly run as Strike sends his blaster after the trio. Ben turns into Four-Arms and sends it back. It shuts off the power to his Omnitrix, rendering him powerless. Garnet loses her visor.

They all hide in an abandoned building, full of Cartoon Network characters encased in stone. They meet Raven from Teen Titans GO!. She explains that she avoided being encased in stone due to a protection spell, and also explains that the abandoned city they are currently in (resembling the CN "City" era) used to be an active utopian city full of Cartoon Network heroes until Strike came and trapped all of them. He then ran out of heroes in the city to destroy, so he started summoning heroes from other dimensions, like K.O. Raven has also lost a big majority of her powers, levitation being her only remaining power. The group decides to team up, naming their team "OK Ben Let's Go Universe".

As a team, they are able to escape and avoid the monsters, enemies, and traps that Strike sends their way. They make it to his lair, but the blaster comes back and Strike begins to power up, albeit taking incredibly long to do so. While this happens, K.O realizes that the blaster can not only destroy, but it can create as well. He restores the others' powers, and they go after Strike, who shoots X energy blasts the heroes' way. The rays are deflected by Garnet's future vision and rapid gauntlet strikes, along with some of Raven's dark energy.

Ben tries to change into one of his ten aliens, but turns into two Cartoon Network characters, and K.O. says that Ben's Omnitrix was created with Strike's power, and due to that, he has the power to summon any of the Cartoon Network heroes. K.O. then throws Ben toward Strike to deliver the final blow, rapidly changing into many of the Cartoon Network heroes. After Strike is defeated, the heroes use the blaster to restore the city, rescuing all of the encased Cartoon Network characters. Raven creates portals that transport the four back into their own worlds. Garnet gives K.O. a final goodbye, and K.O. is transported back to his own world. He wakes up in Gar's Bodega, thinking the whole experience was just a dream, until he finds Garnet's POW Card and smiles, ending the episode.

Original Version

On October 10th, 2018, two days after the episode premiered, Ian-Jones Quartey posted a thread of tweets on Twitter detailing the whole story of the making of the episode, such as asking other studios working for Cartoon Network for things like models and mouth charts. This is where Ian first mentioned the original 22-minute version of the episode, briefly discussing the original plot along with posting a few boards from it, including a scene where K.O. meets Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe (with Ruby and K.O. confused about how they look alike).

Kelsey from Craig of the Creek was also intended to be one of the heroes K.O. joins forces with, but ended up not being used in either the original 22-minute version or the final episode due to production on "Crossover Nexus" starting before Craig of the Creek premiered.

Ian then explained that, after storyboarding was finished, Cartoon Network told the crew that they wanted the episode to be cut down to 11-minute length. They were quite disappointed and started from scratch, leaving much material on the cutting room floor. They were still proud of the final product, nonetheless.

As mentioned above, Ian shared some cut material from the episode, and storyboarders/writers like Dave Alegre and Anna Craig have released multiple parts of their boarded scenes. However, most of the original boards for the 22 minute version have yet to surface.

In July 2019, a clip was posted of Ian at an unknown event. One of the things he discussed was the 22-minute version of Crossover Nexus, and the reasons as to why the episode was cut down to 11 minutes. He began to show a never-before-seen clip of the original version, but the recording cuts off before we can see the episode clip.

In 2020, more boards of the scene where K.O. meets the hypnotized Ruby and Sapphire were released as apart of the Steven Universe: End of an Era art book.

Gallery

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  Full introduction to Ruby and Sapphire (1/2).

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  Full introduction to Ruby and Sapphire (2/2).

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  Ruby ready to fight.

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  Sapphire preparing to attack.

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  K.O. introducing himself to Ruby.

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  Sapphire and Ruby see K.O. on the ground.

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  Ruby and K.O. with big eyes.

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  Ruby and K.O. both looking at Sapphire, confused at how they both look alike.

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  K.O.'s and Ruby's similar faces.

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  Garnet about to fight.

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  Garnet storyboard by Rebecca Sugar, creator of Steven Universe.

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  Garnet's third eye.

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  Garnet talking about the world she is from.

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  K.O.'s eyes popping out in front of Garnet.

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  K.O. turns to Garnet.

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  Garnet talking to K.O..

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  K.O. talking to Garnet.

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  K.O. saying that it's not too late.

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  Everyone looking frightened.

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  Four Arms, K.O., Garnet and One-One running away.

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  Garnet, K.O. and Four Arms on the ground.

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  A possessed Raven.

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  K.O. using a giant pencil.

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  The Perfect Ally, described in the board as "Gwen, Cyborg, Steven, and Enid all mashed up into one another like a freaky sandwich."

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  The possessed Raven attacks.

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  The Perfect Ally grabbing the Red Raven.

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  The Perfect Ally about to squeeze Raven like a towel.

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  The Perfect Ally squeezing Raven like a towel.

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  Raven lying on the ground, squeezed.

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  K.O. holding Raven and asking if she is OK.

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  Raven looks at K.O..

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  Raven replies to K.O.'s question.

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  K.O. in a bizarre place.

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  The Class of 3000 cameo.

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  Stickman.

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  A stickman superhero.

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  The four acting excited.

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  The stickman stating that the four make a creative team.

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  The four replying to the stickman's statement.

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  The group looking weird and off-model.

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  Ben about to slip off of K.O.'s punch.

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  Defeating the pen.

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  The pen explodes.

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  The pen breaks.

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  Ben talking about Gwen.

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  K.O.'s original final line.

See Also

Anthology Series

• Cartoon Network "Cartoon Network Responds!" (partially found interstitials from TV channel; 1997-1999)
• Big Bag (partially found Cartoon Network live-action/animated/puppet series; 1996-1998)
• The Moxy Show (partially found episodes of Cartoon Network CGI animated anthology series; 1993-2000)
• Sunday Pants (partially lost Cartoon Network animated anthology series; 2005)
• ToonHeads (partially lost Cartoon Network animation anthology series; 1996-2003)
• ToonHeads "A Night of Independent Animation" (partially lost special of Cartoon Network animation anthology series; 1996)
• What A Cartoon! (found Cartoon Network animated anthology series; 1995-1997)

Bumpers and Interstitials

• The Big Game XXVI: Tom vs. Jerry (found Cartoon Network marathon special; 1998)
• Cartoon Network (partially found "High Noon Toons" bumpers from TV channel block; 1994-1996)
• Cartoon Network (partially lost "Nood" bumpers from TV channel; 2008-2010)
• Cartoon Network NBA All-Star Slam (partially found interviews of marathon; 2003)
• Cartoon Planet (partially found bumpers of revival block of Cartoon Network animated variety series; 2012)
• Codename: Kids Next Door Mission Weekend (partially found marathon bumpers for Cartoon Network animated series; 2003)
• Fridays aka "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" (partially found interstitials from Cartoon Network channel block; 1999–2007)
• Hotdog TV (partially found Cartoon Network interstitial series; 2010)
• JBVO, Toon FM & Viva Las Bravo (partially found interstitials from Cartoon Network channel blocks; early-mid 2000s)
• Tickle-U (partially found Cartoon Network preschool block; 2005-2006)

Pilots

• Ben 10 (partially found unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; early-mid 2000s)
• Billy and Mandy in Trepanation of the Skull and You (found prototype short of "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" Cartoon Network animated series; 1995)
• Camp Lazlo "Monkey See, Camping Doo" (lost unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2004)
• Captain Sturdy (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (found unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2003)
• IMP, Inc. (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• A Kitty Bobo Show (found storyboard of cancelled second animated pilot for Cartoon Network; 2002)
• Major Flake in "Soggy Sales" (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• Mess O' Blues (partially found prototype short of "Johnny Bravo" Cartoon Network animated series; 1993)
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey (lost unaired pilots of Cartoon Network animated series; 2003/2004)
• Project Gilroy (lost Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2007)
• Regular Show (non-existent Flash pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; late 2000s-2010)
• Squirrel Boy "Kite Makes Right" (lost unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2004)
• Uncle Gus (partially found original English audio of Cartoon Network animated pilots; 2000-2001)

Live-Action

• Bobb'e Says (partially found Cartoon Network live-action clip series; 2009)
• BrainRush (partially found Cartoon Network live-action game show; 2009)
• Track Rats (partially found Cartoon Network reality short series; 2010)
• The Othersiders (found Cartoon Network paranormal reality series; 2009)
• Out of Jimmy's Head (partially lost original English dub of Cartoon Network teen sitcom; 2007-2008)

Other Cartoon Network Series

• Ben 10 (partially found pop-up trivia version of episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; 2008)
• Chowder (lost production material of cancelled Cartoon Network TV film; 2009)
• Class of 3000 (found original English dub of Cartoon Network animated musical series; 2006-2008)
• Codename: Kids Next Door (lost production material of cancelled episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; 2002-2008)
• Dexter's Laboratory "Rude Removal" (found unaired episode of Cartoon Network animated series; 1997)
• Droopy's Guide to the Cartoon Network (found launch preview of TV channel special; 1992)
• Ed, Edd n Eddy "Luck Be an Ed Tonight"/"A Room with an Ed" (rumored/lost unfinished episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
• Ed, Edd n Eddy "Special Ed" (non-existent unproduced episode of Cartoon Network animated series; late 1990s/early 2000s)
• I Heart Tuesdays (lost production material of cancelled Cartoon Network animated series; 2011-2012)
• I-10: The Ben 10 User Generated Experience (found Cartoon Network TV special; 2008)
• Skatoony (found original British version of Cartoon Network quiz show; 2006-2008)
• Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (partially lost unreleased original voice audio and unfinished/unknown episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; 2002-2003)

External Links

• Article for the episode on the OK K.O.! Wiki.