# OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
**OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes** is an American animated television series created by [Ian Jones-Quartey](https://www.edgepedia.org/ian-jones-quartey) and produced by [Cartoon Network Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/cartoon-network-studios), set in the year 201X at a strip-mall hero supply shop where the young K.O. trains to become a hero while defending the plaza from the evil robots of Lord Boxman.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes) It grew out of Jones-Quartey's 2013 pilot short *Lakewood Plaza Turbo*, ran as a series from August 1, 2017 to September 6, 2019, and was accompanied by a mobile game and a console game developed alongside the show rather than after it.[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) • [4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator / studio | Ian Jones-Quartey; Cartoon Network Studios[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) |
| Origin | "Lakewood Plaza Turbo" pilot (2013), from a 2011 pitch through Cartoon Network's in-house shorts program[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/) |
| Series run | August 1, 2017 to September 6, 2019, in three seasons[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) |
| Episode count | 111 eleven-minute episodes plus the pilot and 18 shorts per the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; the fan episode guide counts 112 across three seasons[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) |
| Setting | Lakewood Plaza Turbo strip mall, year 201X; Gar's Bodega hero supply shop[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes) |
| Games | Mobile game *OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo* (Double Stallion, 2016) and console title *OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes* (Capybara Games, fall 2017)[5](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/) • [6](https://blog.playstation.com/2017/03/09/battle-robots-and-find-easter-eggs-in-ok-k-o-lets-be-heroes/) |
| Rating | TV-Y7-FV[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes) |
## Origins and development
Jones-Quartey first pitched the concept to [Cartoon Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/cartoon-network) in 2011 as part of the network's in-house shorts program. Cartoon Network's Rob Sorcher recalled the pitch as a promise to merge the language of video games, which Jones-Quartey loved, with the language of animation and cartoons in a single work; the result was a seven-minute short that matched the pitch exactly.[4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/) The short, *Lakewood Plaza Turbo*, debuted as a pilot on May 21, 2013.[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide)
The development phase was playful and collaborative. Jones-Quartey's first pilot became a mobile game, *OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo*, and he credited the game with letting the team reinvent the world and the character designs before series writing began.[7](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/outside) Cartoon Network released that game in 2016 as a free iOS and [Android](https://www.edgepedia.org/android-operating-system) download, its first original standalone mobile game, developed with the Canadian studio Double Stallion.[5](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/) Thirteen minisodes ran from February 4, 2016 to August 2, 2017, bridging the pilot and the series.[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) Series production began in 2015.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video)
Jones-Quartey credited the network with a development style he suggested could be a standard going forward: room to play with the world and characters for a long time before writing stories.[7](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/outside) In February 2017 Cartoon Network hosted a game jam for 200 indie developers in [Portland, Oregon](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-oregon), plus an animation jam at its Burbank studio, extending the collaborative approach.[5](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/) The series title is a tribute to Jones-Quartey's grandmother, Theodosia Okoh.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video)
## Premise and characters
The show is set in the year 201X, in a town full of superheroes living mundane lives while fighting a handful of enemies.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes) Lakewood Plaza Turbo is a shopping center for heroes, built by Mr. Gar, an ex-member of the superhero team P.O.I.N.T.; Gar runs the hero supply shop Gar's Bodega, staffed by Radicles, Enid, and the wannabe-hero K.O., whose mother Carol is another ex-P.O.I.N.T. member.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) K.O.'s journey starts with a job at Gar's Bodega, the best place for heroes to train, where with his friends Enid and Rad he defends the store from Lord Boxman's evil robots.[9](https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/OK-KO-Lets-Be-Heroes/0LPI90KPPZYPVONLC1LYYPU3VY)
Lord Boxman runs a nearby factory that builds evil robots and regularly dispatches them to destroy the Plaza, which he calls "crawling with friendship"; his investors eventually replace him with his robot son Darrell.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) K.O.'s friend Dendy is named after a video game console, one of many game references in the show.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes)
## Production and style
The visual style is video-game-inspired and anime-inflected. Jones-Quartey described OK K.O.! as a video game-inspired world expressed through the language of animation, an adventurous playground with heart-warming heroes who battle robots.[6](https://blog.playstation.com/2017/03/09/battle-robots-and-find-easter-eggs-in-ok-k-o-lets-be-heroes/) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls it an amusing, nicely eccentric show influenced by manga, old computer video games, and animation history.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) Jones-Quartey has cited *Dexter's Laboratory*, which blended [Hanna-Barbera](https://www.edgepedia.org/hanna-barbera) animation with 1970s anime, as an influence, and drew on his own teenage experience working as a store clerk, like K.O.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video)
**Hand-made look.** The show is animated traditionally: artists draw all frames with a 2B pencil, and the pencil line is retained and colored under rather than fully inked, a deliberate stylistic choice.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video) The designs are also intentionally unstable. "From scene to scene, from shot to shot, even within the same shot, the characters can look five or six different ways," Jones-Quartey said; the show is designed to be continually morphing so viewers feel the hand of the artist.[4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/)
The creative team included [Toby Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/toby-jones), a [Regular Show](https://www.edgepedia.org/regular-show) storyboard director and double Emmy nominee, as director; Jones-Quartey himself was a two-time Emmy nominee for *Steven Universe*, which he developed with [Rebecca Sugar](https://www.edgepedia.org/rebecca-sugar).[7](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/outside) • [1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) Executive producers were Ian Jones-Quartey, Curtis Lelash, Brian A. Miller, Jennifer Pelphrey, and Rob Sorcher.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) Compared with *Steven Universe*, OK K.O.! was more child-orientated and very cartoony in style, but kept many interesting characters and a concern with different types of relationships.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes)
## Episodes and broadcast
The series proper ran for three seasons: season 1, 52 episodes, from August 1, 2017 ("Let's Be Heroes") to April 6, 2018 ("You're in Control"); season 2, 40 episodes, from May 5, 2018 ("Seasons Change") to June 30, 2019 ("Dark Plaza"); and season 3, 20 episodes, from July 7, 2019 ("We Are Heroes") to September 6, 2019 ("Thank You for Watching the Show"), the final episode.[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) Cartoon Network debuted the series on a Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT.[4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction dates the overall property 2016 to 2019, counting from the minisodes, and gives a total of 111 eleven-minute episodes plus the pilot and 18 shorts; the fan-maintained episode guide counts 112 episodes across the three seasons, a discrepancy between the two counts.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide)
**Crossover Nexus.** The episode "Crossover Nexus" (production code 1064-074) debuted October 8, 2018, featuring K.O. trapped alongside other Cartoon Network heroes.[3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide)
## Related media
Two games accompanied the series. The mobile app *Lakewood Plaza Turbo!* by Double Stallion launched in 2016 as Cartoon Network's first original standalone mobile game.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video) • [5](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/) The console title *OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes*, by the Toronto studio Capybara Games, was an action-brawler meets RPG for PlayStation 4 filled with video game references and Easter eggs, scheduled for fall 2017 after the TV premiere.[6](https://blog.playstation.com/2017/03/09/battle-robots-and-find-easter-eggs-in-ok-k-o-lets-be-heroes/) • [5](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/) Jones-Quartey emphasized the reversed order of the usual cartoon-to-game pipeline: work with Capybara Games began before any episodes of the show had been made.[4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/) The first season was released on DVD in summer 2018.[8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video)
## Voice cast
The principal cast includes Courtenay Taylor and [Ashly Burch](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashly-burch) alongside Jones-Quartey himself.[10](https://www.hulu.com/series/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-5f6800f3-7ded-45a6-b40e-44b427dab1a6?entity_id=a14569a7-790e-4d71-b10d-fd5974f6d01b) K.O. is voiced by Stephanie Nadolny and Courtenay Taylor; [Kate Flannery](https://www.edgepedia.org/kate-flannery) plays his mother Carol; [David Herman](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-herman) plays the level 11 hero Mr. Gar, owner of Gar's Bodega; Jones-Quartey voices Radicles and Ashly Burch voices Enid.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes) The wider cast named by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction adds Jim Cummings (Lord Boxman), Melissa Fahn, Kali Hawk, and Kari Wahlgren.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes)
## By the numbers
The development timeline ran roughly eight years from pitch to finale: a 2011 pitch, a 2013 pilot, a 2015 production start, a 2016 mobile game and minisodes, and a 2017 to 2019 series run.[4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/) • [3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide) • [8](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video) The series proper lasted just over two years and produced 112 episodes by the fan guide's count, or 111 eleven-minute episodes plus 18 shorts by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction's count; the fan guide lists season lengths of 52, 40, and 20 episodes.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [3](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide)
## Availability and legacy
At retrieval, the series remained cataloged on major platforms: Hulu maintains a series page listing Courtenay Taylor, Ashly Burch, and Ian Jones-Quartey as principal cast, and Prime Video carries a detail page describing K.O.'s defense of Gar's Bodega.[10](https://www.hulu.com/series/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-5f6800f3-7ded-45a6-b40e-44b427dab1a6?entity_id=a14569a7-790e-4d71-b10d-fd5974f6d01b) • [9](https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/OK-KO-Lets-Be-Heroes/0LPI90KPPZYPVONLC1LYYPU3VY) Common Sense Media still lists the series as an actively cataloged children's title, with its review page last updated October 9, 2025.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes)
Within Jones-Quartey's body of work, the series followed his development work on *Steven Universe* with Rebecca Sugar, and is distinguished by its game-world premise, its retained pencil-line animation, and its development method of building the world through a game before writing episodes.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes) • [7](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/outside) • [4](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/)
## References
1. [OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/ok_k_o_lets_be_heroes)
2. [OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes – TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes)
3. [Episode Guide, OK K.O.! Wiki (Fandom)](https://ok-ko.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide)
4. [Cartoon Network Premieres New Show 'OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes', Variety](https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cartoon-network-ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-new-animated-show-1202511071/)
5. [With OK K.O.!, CN puts its trust in others, Kidscreen](https://kidscreen.com/2017/06/07/with-ok-k-o-cn-puts-the-trust-in-others/)
6. [Battle Robots and Find Easter Eggs in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, PlayStation.Blog](https://blog.playstation.com/2017/03/09/battle-robots-and-find-easter-eggs-in-ok-k-o-lets-be-heroes/)
7. [Outside In, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/mix/outside)
8. [Q+A: SVA Alumnus Ian Jones-Quartey, Creator of 'OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes', School of Visual Arts](https://sva.edu/features/q-a-alumnus-ian-jones-quartey-creator-of-ok-k-o-let-s-be-heroes-video)
9. [OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Prime Video](https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/OK-KO-Lets-Be-Heroes/0LPI90KPPZYPVONLC1LYYPU3VY)
10. [OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Hulu](https://www.hulu.com/series/ok-ko-lets-be-heroes-5f6800f3-7ded-45a6-b40e-44b427dab1a6?entity_id=a14569a7-790e-4d71-b10d-fd5974f6d01b)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Animated television series (individual series) › Children's animated adventure and fantasy series › Superhero and action-adventure series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license