Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters
Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters is an American animated series produced by Hasbro Studios and distributed by Netflix. It is based on the 1970s action figure Stretch Armstrong. The Netflix series features a brand new superhero universe, new characters, new villains, and new lore. The series was developed by executive producers Kevin Burke, Victor Cook, and Chris "Doc" Wyatt. Victor Cook also oversaw the series as supervising director, Burke and Wyatt as story editors. Burke and Wyatt also wrote a tie-in comic book for IDW Publishing. The first season was released on  Netflix on November 17, 2017. The second season was released on September 7, 2018. Plot. Jake Armstrong, Nathan Park, and Ricardo Perez were three ordinary teenagers living in the technological hub Charter City until they were doused in a substance known as "Flexarium" during an accident. Their newfound superpowers garnered the attention of Jonathan Rook, the CEO of Rook Unlimited and benefactor to Charter City himself. Rook offers them their freedom from the authorities over the accident in exchange for enlisting the trio as Charter City's superhero team known as the Flex Fighters. Agreeing on the terms that Rook  and everyone else won't know their real identities, Jake becomes Stretch, Nathan becomes Wingspan, and Ricardo becomes Omni-Mass. In their first days as superheroes, the Flex Fighters receive hard training from Malcolm Kane (Rook's second-in-command) while fighting against numerous villains including Stretch Monster, who benefices many of them, and also shared a past with Dr. Racine Cleo / Dr. C (Rook's former mentor) and her ninja companion Riya Dashti / Blindstrike (Stretch's classmate and love interest). In their last mission, the Flex Fighters discover in horror that Jonathan Rook and Stretch Monster are the same  person and therefore, he has been their enemy the whole time. Rook intends to use Dr. C's "HyperFlexarium" formula to create an army of monsters and conquer the world. With the help of Dr. C and Blindstrike, the Flex Fighters escaped from Rook, but he then frames them in public for the rampage he caused over the city. With the city under Rook's control and its citizens being turned against them, the Flex Fighters decided to join forces with Dr. C and Blindstrike in order to expose Rook's crimes and clear their names. In season two, now  that Rook has fooled all of Charter City into thinking the Flex Fighters are now bad guys, the Flex Fighters work with Dr. C and Blindstrike to fight Rook's mercenaries while working to clear their name. They must also deal with Malcolm Kane when the Tech Men attack. Production. Stretch Armstrong was originally released in 1976 by Kenner Products. In 1987, Kenner was acquired by Tonka, which was later acquired together in 1991 by Hasbro. All of rights to Kenner's products were transferred to Hasbro in 2000, when the latter shut down Kenner's office. There have been  several attempts to adapt the property into a television series or film, with the latter, as a live-action film, have failed attempts by Disney (in 1994), Universal (in 2008) and Relativity Media (in 2012). Originally announced and developed as a live-action series starring a teenage version of the 1970s superhero, the idea was eventually retooled as an animated series targeted to children before bringing in Cook as producer, based on his work with "The Spectacular Spider-Man" TV series. Shortly thereafter, Burke and Wyatt were hired to produce and write. The series was designed to have episodic stories  that also serialize into a larger plot over the course of the first season's 26 episodes. The first footage from the series was shown at HasCon on September 10, 2017. The series is animated by Digital eMation in South Korea. Comic book. The first issue of "Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters" was released on February 28, 2018. All three issues serve as one full episode that takes place before the season 1 episode "Lie Sandwich". Reception. The series was received positively. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as a "fan superhero tale" with cartoon violence  in each episode, but emphasis on teamwork as a theme. She also called it an "evolving buddy comedy" between the main characters.