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. Ian also mentioned the original 22-minute version of the episode, posting a few boards from it, including a scene where K.O. meets Ruby from Steven Universe (and both are confused about how they look alike), and a small cameo of a character from Class of 3000. 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 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 pictures of boarded scenes. However, what the crew has shared so far is unlikely to be the full cut. The actual full cut, with the voice acting and the rest of the storyboards, is unlikely 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.

Gallery

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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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  Ruby ready to fight.

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  K.O. running away from Ruby.

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  Sapphire preparing to attack.

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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 talking about the world she is from.

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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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  Everyone looking frightened.

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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 (referring to how they are all from different cartoons.)

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  The four replying "We know" to the stickman's statement.

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  Garnet's third eye.

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  The group looking weird and off-model.

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

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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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  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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  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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  Ben talking about Gwen.

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  K.O.'s original final line.

External Link

• Article for the episode on the OK KO! wiki. Retrieved 10 May '19