Hello hello, it’s that time again! Season five is no more, the space theme has blasted off into the void, and that means it’s time for a new one to take its place.

This time around for season 6, the theme is Comics and Cartoons, and Psyonix seems to have looked to all of the larger-than-life cartoon and comic book style items from Rocket League's past. Think Ripped Comic decals and the Splash goal explosion, but in the form of an entire season. Kinda cool, right?

Let’s start with the season’s map, which is a re-imagined version of Neo Tokyo. The shading is different, the colours seem brighter, there’s a bunch of subtle changes, and despite not being that different to Neo Tokyo, it does feel like a different map. It’s still a standard rectangle, but as maps go, this one looks pretty nice

Now onto the items. The headline body for Season 6 that comes by default with the Premium Rocket Pass is the Nomad van, which marries the beautiful styling of both the Merc and the Scarab to create a Merc-hitboxed monstrosity. At level 70 of premium Rocket Pass you can unlock the Nomad GXT, which follows the season pass body formula to the letter. The Nomad GXT is fundamentally the same, but with additional intakes and trim to make it look just that little bit cooler. Painted variants can also drop in the Pro tiers beyond level 70.

Nomad

Nomad GXT

In terms of decals, there appears to be four that drop by default for the Nomad - Flames, Lightning, Stripes, and Wings, but there are plenty more to unlock by other means. Global decals are of course compatible too, so you can still use your rad Black Market global decals.

But what about the other premium tier items? Well, there’s too many items to cover all of them, but one of the main themes of the season is the Nomster, a fuzzy little thing which seems to be this season’s mascot. While I find it vaguely unsettling, there's quite a selection of Nomster items, including a goal explosion, wheels, topper, and antenna. The antenna isn't so much an antenna as bumper ornament, though. While equipped, the Nomad gets an animated cartoon face, which in this case is an acquired taste, but a really cool effect we'd like to see more future.

Nomster

Nomster

Nomster

Nomster

Nomster

Nomster

Asides from that, my pick of the Season 6 items would have to include the Dream Beam boost and trail which are pretty cool, along with the clean Hazy Flame boost, and the Artifuss Hatch wheels too. The Cooperduper Wheels in both Standard and Glitched forms are cool too.

Dream Beam

Dream Beam

Hazy Flame

Artifuss: Hatch

Cooperduper

Cooperduper: Glitched

In terms of free items, there are less of those, but a shout out has to go to the Alicorn topper. Who doesn't want a small Unicorn on the top of their car? The Nacho paint finish could also look great with some car designs - if you come up with any, do let us know down in the comments!

Alicorn

Nacho

Season 6, much like other seasons, will run for three months. It starts today on March 9th, and runs through until June 15th. As always, there’s a free tier which contains some perks and item drops, but for the cooler items, you’re going to need to purchase the Premium Rocket Pass. Of course, the items that drop in the Pro Tiers are fully tradable, so it's not strictly necessary to pay if you only want one or two of the items.

If you decide to buy the Rocket Pass, which unlocks the Nomad and gives you the opportunity to play to unlock plenty more, it’ll cost you the usual 1000 credits. Given the amount of content on offer and the gameplay that’ll encourage, that seems fairly fair. 

Alternatively, if you want a headstart on your Rocket Pass experience, you can pay 2000 credits which will unlock both the Premium Rocket Pass and the first twelve tiers. While it’s nice to get them out of the way, with all of the challenges on offer, those should pass fairly quickly. Don’t feel you have to buy them if you play a bit, but that is a 1000 credit discount over buying it all individually.

So, that’s season 6. What do you think? Will you be buying it? Maybe even use the creator code RLGARAGE #EpicPartner? Personally, while I’m a fan of the style, it feels a little sparse, and there’s no item that screams out to me that I need it like Cosmosis did last time out. I’m still waiting for that non-standard arena too — just something to make things feel a little bit different.