jeremys-blogs

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Ten years. And still one of the greatest things Cartoon Network ever gave us :)

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You know, for a show that's about as un-Disney as you can get, it's amazing how well that studio's songs work with it ^_^

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There is no way that I'm the only one who sees this comparison, right? A brooding genetically-engineered character, created to be some superior form of life, who was made in secret and who was deeply affected by the loss of a young girl they were best friends with who was related to their creator. Now, I'm not saying Nintendo or Sega copied one another's homework, but I kinda can't avoid seeing it now ^^;

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When considering the situation of all of the characters who are trapped in the Circus, one thing sticks out to me. Kinger has been outright stated as being there longer than any other. And out of the entire cast, he's the only one who suffers with things like memories and general awareness. The third episode certainly suggests that he's suffered the trauma of losing his wife, but I wonder also if his condition is a result of simply having been in that place for too long. That long-term exposure to this digital environment has a detrimental effect on people's minds, with the abstraction of his wife being one of those events which served to hasten that process. Either way, it doesn't bode well for anyone else there :(

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Okay, I have no idea what kind of nightmarish, twisted imagination over at Gooseworx spawned this type of heart-stopping and horrific image, but on the off-chance that you happen to see this post, then I just want to say to you...please continue, because I love this stuff ^_^

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I know it's a simple thing, but I've always been fond of the old trope of things being in complete darkness, with the only part of our characters that we can see being their eyes. It's something every single one of us likely has seen in animation at least once, and I'd wager that every animated show out there has employed that cliché at some point in their episodes. I suppose I like it because of just how expressive the characters can be when it's just their eyes that are visible and moving. So much personality from a single body part, a testament to what animation can do :)

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If anyone's interested in a 20-plus year after-the-fact story idea for Pokémon, feel free to read below.

So I've been in a bit of a Pokémon mood lately, going back to re-watch the older show, and It occurs to me how great an idea it was that Mewtwo, the antagonist of the first movie, was teased in the Indigo League episodes as some shadowy figure controlled by Team Rocket before going rogue. It really hyped up audiences as to what this thing was for when the film finally released. And I can say that with certainty as an OG Pokémon fan. However, it's something of a disappointment to me that they never seemed to do this sort of thing with later stuff. No hints of Lugia or Entei or the other Legendaries before their respective movies like Mewtwo had.

As such, I've been tinkering in my head about a possible way this could have been done, at least as far as with the Pokémon Lugia and the 2000 movie. I realise I'm a few decades late to propose it, but hey, better late than never, right?

So, here's the idea. Much like in the remake games, Heartgold and Soulsilver, the Kimono Girls of the Johto region are heavily tied to the Legendaries, Lugia in particular in this case. They have been searching for a chosen one in the hopes that one will enable the Legendaries to return. Then, word will reach them of the events of the first Pokémon movie. Ash, a mere human boy, has not only managed to cease the fighting between two Pokémon of godlike power, Mew and Mewtwo, but even came back to life in the process through the mythical power of resurrection tears of the other Pokémon assembled there.

Yes, I realise that memory loss was involved in all who were there at the time, but for the sake of this idea, let's say that word got out about the events on New Island in spite of that. The Kimono Girls hear this and they wonder to themselves, this Ash boy is clearly something different, and maybe, just maybe, he's the one they've been looking for. So, it's decided. One of them will find him and meet with him. To determine if he's indeed the one and, if he is, to prepare him for his role as the chosen human who will bring about Lugia's return.

Of their number, they choose the youngest, Sakura, so find Ash and ingratiate herself with him. The girl goes, but she has her own reasons for going as, much like her brief appearance in the anime, she has hopes of being a Pokémon trainer rather than following the tradition of her family, and so uses this mission as the excuse she's been looking for to get out there in the world. She finds Ash and the gang and joins him, serving as the new companion character for the season. She and Ash become friends (and possibly go down the usual route of Ash's female companions getting a crush on him only for him to be oblivious to the whole thing) and they journey through Johto. Despite her scepticism for the legend, Sakura, seeing Ash and his interactions with Pokémon, starts to get the same inkling about him as her sisters.

Eventually, the season draws to a close and we get into the territory of the Pokémon 2000 movie. Things basically go the same, with the three birds infighting and Lugia needed to keep them in line. But it takes Ash stepping up to his role as the chosen one to bring the Legendary out from the sea, as well as Sakura, who reveals her intentions to him, to do so, much like the player character and Kimono Girls do in the game. Basically, Sakura sort of takes on the role Melody had in the canon movie, a ceremonial maiden whose song/dance was needed to resolve or summon Lugia alongside Ash. The day is saved, Sakura reconciles with her sisters (who are none too pleased that she strayed from her mission to pursue her goal of becoming a trainer, but are happy for her all the same) and that whole family drama is settled. She then parts ways amicably with Ash, with potential for the occasional cameo and re-joining the group later on.

Yeah, this basically mashes timelines of the show and draws a lot from the remake Johto games, but I just thoughts it'd be neat in a sort of retroactive way for some kind of storyline and build-up for Ash's role with the Lugia movie, as well as introducing the very cool (at least to me) idea that there are human characters in the Pokémon world who are aware of the Legendaries and are something of a liaison between them and humanity like Sakura and her sisters. Hope you enjoyed my rambling. I'm no storyteller, but with luck this was a fun what-if for you to read :)

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Murder Drones was full of mysteries, but one that always nagged at me was where the real Dr Chambers got off to. Think about it, they clearly weren't there at the time of the experiment to create the Solver patch, otherwise they would've spoken up when they were called for, regardless of whether an intern had their uniform on. And that moment was definitely important (this was, after all, an attempt to stop the thing that had already destroyed Earth and most of the human race), and something someone like them needed to be there for. So why were they absent from the whole thing?

I don't know if there's any fan-theories about where they might've been, but if there are, I'd love to hear them :)

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Thinking on it, I believe we need to acknowledge just how messed up things were for the character of Megatronus Prime in the Transformers One movie. Consider, betrayed and murdered by one of your own followers alongside all of your comrades. And then, having someone who idolises you, D-16, co-opt not only your name by calling himself Megatron, but to have your very face be used as the insignia for the Decepticon movement he started.

In most other continuities of transformers, Megatronus is a villain, known often as "the Fallen" for his actions. But here, in Transformers One, he was a hero like all the other primes. Yet, despite being an actual decent person for once, his whole identity will forever be associated with villainy in the eyes of Cybertron's history because of Megatron's use of them. That's just insult to injury :(

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Okay, so we have a young protagonist character who was born and raised in slavery, who sought better things for himself and others, was given an opportunity by an older mentor figure and then thrust into a conflict that eventually whittled down his better nature and set him down a path where his anger eventually took centre stage. He became disillusioned by those who once had authority in his life, feeling betrayed by them and seeing them as corrupt. Then, at his lowest point, he causes the death of one who was on his side, before fully embracing this darker side of himself, which would inevitably lead to him becoming a figure of violence and war, ushering in a dark age for everyone else.

Hmmm...okay guys, hear me out ^^;

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Spoilers below for those who haven't seen Transformers one, as I will be discussing my favourite moment from the film.

So, we have the final split between Orion and D-16, the bots who would become Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. And what I love about the moment is not only how their ultimate change into those classic characters happens at the same time (furthering the parallels between them), but how their change ultimately came down to how they acted towards the exact same thing.

Sentinel was beaten, the truth of his betrayal known for all. Yet these two former friends have very different reactions now that the dust has settled. D-16 is angry, hurt and betrayed, and unrelentingly pursues his enemy until the transgressor is destroyed. As for Orion, he advocates for all to stand down, as no further violence is needed in his eyes, since Sentinel's actions are now public knowledge, and even puts himself in harms way rather than allow another killing to happen.

This one moment cements who these two are, both as people and as the leaders of their respective sides. One angry and choosing to destroy his enemies. The other, willingly sacrificing himself rather than choosing further harm. Both have been subjected to the same hardships and betrayals, but they both differ wildly in terms of how they react to it. Yet both are understandable in their feelings, even when those differences end their long friendship.

Optimus and Megatron having once been close, and splitting up due to ideological differences, has long been a backstory for the two of them in various continuities. But this moment right here was perhaps the most compelling that split has ever been. Not something just told to us in a flashback, but a divide happening right in front of us in the here and now, for very real and, for lack of a better term, human reasons.

Attack vs defence, war vs self-sacrifice, emotion vs reason. This is what these two are, and I don't think I've ever been more engaged with these them than I am right now with this movie :)

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Cyn: "Hello, Uzi" ¬_¬

Also Cyn: "Hi, N!" :D

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Well, Transformers One is out, and I have to say, I had a lot of fun with it. The animation, the characters, it was all engaging, and it really is refreshing to get a fully animated film in this franchise for the first time since 1986. I have to say though, perhaps the biggest strength of this film for me has got to be the portrayal of Megatron. Throughout TF's four decades, the idea that he was a revolutionary trying to fight against something terrible, only to become something worse himself, has been a frequent origin story of his. But here, seeing D-16's eventual descent into that classic villain, it might be the first time I was ever compelled by that backstory. Seeing his journey from a simple worker who believed in those who led them, only to have that respect and awe twisted into justified anger and a feeling of betrayal, leading to his war against all, even his best friend, was perhaps the most enrapturing I've known Megs to be.

And of course, major kudos to Brian Tyree Henry for doing such an amazing job with him. Other Megatrons might have been great baddies, but this one here might truly go down in TF history as perhaps the greatest of them in terms of being a fully realised character.

So yeah, for the franchise's 40th birthday, this was quite a fine bit of story they gave us ^_^

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Astro Bot has been an amazingly fun game since its release, and like many platformers it has a slew of enjoyable boss fights. But there is one boss I have to scratch my head over, and that's Specter. Now, having him be an antagonist is not surprising in and of itself, given that that's what he is in his own game, Ape Escape. No, what makes me question it is that he's the only one of the collectable Playstation character-bots that serves as a boss or enemy in any real capacity in the game. We have plenty of other such bots who were enemies in their own games, like Psycho Mantis, yet Specter here is the one and only who gets to be a boss in this game. And one that's immediately back on your side as soon as you catch him.

Not really a complaint on my part, just something odd I've been thinking about ^_^

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I want to make it abundantly clear that I have nothing but love for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's some of the greatest cinema ever created, no question. However, one thing that becomes inescapable to me, especially as I watch the extended editions, is just how much the character of Boromir was screwed over by the theatrical cut of the films. So many of his moments, consoling Frodo after the loss of Gandalf, looking back to his relationship with Faramir, all of it was lost when the films first came to the big screen. Moments that humanized him, made him more than just the "traitor" who wanted the ring, to the point where the only true redeeming moment for him in the official cut of the film was his sacrifice to save Merry and Pippin.

It's especially bad when you consider just how good of a performance Sean Bean put into those moments, yet, if all you saw was what was in theatres, you'd never know it. Jackson's a great filmmaker, but he really did this character dirty :(

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When all was said and done in the finale, I have to assume there came a moment where Uzi and N actually had to decide what they were going to do as their first date. To the best of my knowledge, neither character has been in any romantic relationship before, and every interaction they've had with one another has been either during times of peril or the calm in-between. There had to have been a moment where the two suddenly realised that they have no idea what they're supposed to do on a date, with typical teen awkwardness following. Then again, they're some of the only drones who are depicted as actually having to "eat", so hey, maybe they went out for a meal together, much to the terror of whatever hapless drone they came across for it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Okay, so something my PC likes to do is draw up random images from the internet to use as my desktop background for the day. Today, it gave me this little gem of a bear and her cub. Nothing much to say except I really liked it and just wanted to share it ^_^