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frankendykes-monster · 1 year ago

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But the question of one's favorite version of the Legion of Super-Heroes is a deceptively complex one. It's not just a matter of team line-ups or creative teams, but the actual directions and themes explored by the franchise. The Legion has been relaunched and repackaged more than anything else in the DC Universe -- a universe where the line-wide reboot has become the go-to move -- and each time it's based on different ideas of what these characters mean, and what the future looks like. As much as they might be in the same continuity, the original Legion has a completely different set of ideals that it's exploring than the Dystopian "Five Years Later" Legion of the '80s, and when Mark Waid and Barry Kitson "threebooted" the Legion in 2004, their stories were a reaction to a completely different environment in comics than when they rebooted it the first time ten years earlier.

And because each version of the Legion is so thematically different than the others, the question of which one's your favorite has a lot to do with which of those themes you find appealing. For me, there's no question, and I'm sure this won't surprise anyone: I love the original Silver Age Legion.

Part of that comes from the same reason that I love a lot of Silver Age books, in that it's just full of bizarre kookiness, with a sci-fi setting that allowed the creators to ratchet the weirdness up even higher than they did in the regular line back in those days. There's one story in the '60s where someone's spying on the Legion and they can't figure out who until they realize that there's a tiny little man living in Sun Boy's ankle who was surgically implanted there by one of their enemies when Sun Boy went to the dentist, and it's hard to say if that was actually the craziest thing they ever did in those stories.

But more than that, there's an optimism to it.

When I talked to him about writing the Star Trek / Legion crossover, Chris Roberson told me that one of the things that attracted him to both franchises was that they both showed an optimistic future, and he's right. When you think about the time when the Legion was created in 1958 and those years in the '60s when they grew in popularity, that was the same time when people were building fallout shelters in the back yard and teaching school kids to duck and cover under a school desk in the event of an atom bomb. Nuclear war wasn't just a possibility, it was seen as something that was pretty much inevitable, and that was reflected in the fiction of the time. This was the dawn of the post-apocalyptic story, with increasingly grim visions of the future based on the destruction that we'd already seen.

But with Silver Age comics in general, and the Legion in particular, it was different. I imagine that the Comics Code and a desire to not get any irate letters from parents about terrifying their children with visions of nuclear holocaust were as much a motivating factor as any bright-eyed hope for the future when creators like Otto Binder and Jerry Siegel approached it, but the fact remains that they showed us a future that was thriving.

The Legion's 30th Century wasn't quite a utopia, but it wasn't a wasteland either. It was a glimpse of a future where everything worked out okay, with a galaxy of strange aliens from even stranger worlds united behind Earth. Well, okay, admittedly, they were less strange aliens and more "a bunch of white people and one green dude," but the sentiment was there. The very existence of that art deco skyline of the 30th century was a sign that we as a civilization had made it through, even when it was under attack by computer robots.

There's actually a story from 1964 -- the first appearance of Dream Girl, if you want to look it up -- where a few Legionnaires take a one-panel field trip to a world that actually has been destroyed in an atomic war, but for them, it's a strange historical curiosity that they're viewing from the outside. It's a "might have been" and not a "definitely will."

Of course, the fact that things worked out okay was to be expected. Even though we were in danger here in the real world, the Legion's future was descended from an Earth that had Superman protecting it, which points to another great element of the team. They have that same aspirational element to them that I love about characters like Robin and Jimmy Olsen, but it's applied to an entire universe. The existence of the Legion is predicated on two different ideas about Superman. The first is just that Superman is there to make sure that their future exists, and as simple as that might sound, the fact that we see the end result of what he does makes his struggle in that Never-Ending Battle against evil mean something. A dystopian future means that he failed somewhere along the line and that in the end, all of his good works didn't matter. A future that's bright and united, however, means that all of those times he saved the world from Luthor or Brainaic actually counted for something, that there was something out there to make it worthwhile.

And the second is that it's those battles, and Superman specifically, that inspire the Legion to form and use their powers to do the same thing he did. It's a pretty strong recommendation for his character that his legend and his accomplishments last for the next thousand years, and it lends a power to the mythology of Superman. It immediately puts him in the ranks of Hercules and Robin Hood, these figures that we still talk about a thousand years (or more) after they first entered culture. It just does it in a way that we don't have to wait around to see if it actually works out that way once 2958 rolls around.

Just as important as that, though, it casts the Legionnaires themselves as fans. Just like Jimmy Olsen, it brings the idea that the readers themselves could be part of the story to the forefront, with the added wish fulfillment of granting them super-powers and sending them off on their own adventures. It's something that Waid and Kitson touched on in their "Threeboot" Legion, going as far as to have the characters actually sitting around reading Silver Age comics and drawing inspiration from the adventures there to escape from the boring repetition of their world. Which, incidentally, may be a metaphor for what was going on in the rest of the DC Universe at the time. Who knows.

Anyway, that ties in with yet another element that I find really appealing, that springs right from the fact that they're so readily identifiable to the readers: The Legion are a bunch of kids. There are later versions where the same characters have grown up, but for me, that doesn't work as well at all. It breaks one of the best metaphors of the entire franchise, that they're children, a group that symbolizes the future, who also literally represent the future. They're the ones looking around at their world with fresh eyes and going "Hey, we should all just be like Superman." Adults -- with the exception of those who sit around thinking about funnybooks all day -- don't think like that, but kids do, and the Legion are a bunch of kids who actually have the power to make that work.

Incidentally, I feel the same way about the X-Men -- not that there should never be grown-up X-Men, but that there should always be some kind of emphasis on young characters and the school. The metaphor of evolution and the newer, younger species arriving to possibly replace the old is just too good to pass up.

Speaking of the X-Men, I think it's fair to say that that's a franchise that owes a lot to the Legion, and not just because Dave Cockrum originally designed Nightcrawler and Colossus as Legionnaires before they were rejected and sent packing across town to Marvel. Because it was set in the future and not bound to the rest of the DC Universe, the Legion was free to build its own continuity, and it took a path of change and dynamism that you didn't usually see in the Silver Age. Things didn't always end with a return to the Status Quo. Lightning Lad died, came back, lost an arm, and had it replaced. New members joined. Prospective members were rejected and formed their own teams. A third of Triplicate Girl was killed off "permanently" and she returned as Duo Damsel. Things changed.

But the most important thing that the X-Men and most other comics about teenage superheroes lifted from the Legion is that for the first time, kids with super-powers acted like actual kids. And by that, I mean that they were massive jerks to each other.

And I love that about them.

I wrote about this once for a book of essays on the Legion called Teenagers From The Future (available now in finer bookstores everywhere, tell your friends), but it really just boils down to this: When adults are jerks to each other, they're just jerks, but when kids are jerks it's because they're kids. Kids make up weird rules about things and get unreasonably angry when someone breaks them. They form clubs with bizarre secret rules that they take too seriously until they forget about them and never bring them up again. They're dicks to each other for no discernible reason.

And that is exactly how the Legion conducts itself.

Maybe the best example of this is the occasional recruitment drives, which are literally just stories where characters like Matter Eater Lad and Light Lass (she makes things less heavy!) sit around and tell other super-powered youths how much they suck:

I spent a good chunk of my youth attending public school, so I can go ahead and confirm that this is exactly what it would be like if teenagers actually had super-powers. He can avert nuclear war, but even Superman can't make kids stop being jerks to each other.

And they were jerks. Their very first appearance is based around going back in time to play a prank on this guy that they idolize, and it just builds from there. At least one out of every three stories is some variation on that theme, and they get weird with it. The first time Supergirl meets the Legion, they don't let her join because exposure to Red Kryptonite has made her "over 18" for like an hour. Keep in mind: this is a temporary condition and they are time travelers. And occasionally, they just turn on each other, living out a kid's idea of gender relationships:

There's a lot of Legion runs that I love, but that original has never been topped for how much it appeals to me, which might seem a little weird when you consider that I got into it around 2006 at the age of 24 after never reading a Legion story in my life and not when I was the age where I actually should've been identifying with these characters. But there's something there that I can't deny the appeal of, that combination of hopeful optimism and kids being jerks, of Silver Age weirdness and emotional authenticity, and the past's idea of what the future could be if we all made it through.

Chris Sim, writing for Comics Alliance, 2012

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alexluminosbucket · 1 year ago

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The bright glowing lights of The Freddy Fazbear Pizzaplex beamed down on your face as you stood outside of your car in the packed parking lot of the building. From outside of the concrete walls you could just barely hear the low thrumming bass and speakers, most likely coming from the infamous glam rock band. From the outside the parking lot was filled with cars, some parents exiting with sad or disappointed kids, not ready to leave the fun, or others bringing in the kids for late night fun, cheers, and smiles nonetheless on everyone's face. That was to be expected though, especially with such a popular franchise like this. Yet here you were, uniform on, and cap set firmly on your head that read “mechanic” in neat stitching. The uniform wasn’t much, turquoise shirt, black cargo pants, some beat-up Converse you got as a high school graduation gift, your iconic gray sweater, and a limited edition Monty Gator bookbag.

A courtesy gift from your managers.

Seeing as you were one of the few mechanics that happened to work there, and only recently began working there for a few weeks, they saw it as a “Welcoming gift, for the newest member of the Fazbear family.” The job wasn’t complicated either, not that you ever had to do anything too serious. Mostly consisting of taking care of short circuits with lights, faulty arcade machines, and some minor repairs on staff bots, such as map bots, or the security, even the cute little mop bots. Not that you weren’t qualified to handle working on the main crew, it’s just that it just so happened to be quite rare that any of them got into a situation in need of such repairs. The biggest thing you’ve ever had to do was give them some minor software updates. Even then it wasn't serious enough to have to check them out, simply just a few clicks on a tablet, a few minutes of waiting and you were done. Not only that but there were also other mechanics, so you’ve only ever spoken to one of the animatronics twice, that being Monty.

Your nose scrunched up at the memory, walking through the sliding glass doors pulling your work badge out, and scanning it across the gate reader, allowing passage through the blockers. Despite your liking for the gator’s design and brand in general, you found his actual personality to be one of a struggle to be around. His presence could get pretty intense. Both times filled with silence, as he glared down at you, as if helping upload his newest updates was an inconvenience to him. Whoever coded “I’m a prick program” into robots had one hell of a sense of humor. And not one you particularly enjoyed when he growled at the sight of you trying to start a conversation. Scoffing and mumbling to yourself, maneuvering through the crowd of parents and running children, you caught sight of the main gang on stage, performing their hearts out. Or lack thereof.

You had to admit. Seeing them up there at all was amazing. It even made you stop in your tracks as you smiled while watching, eyes never leaving the stage as you continued walking slowly only to run into a hard surface. Looking up at your obstacle, you saw it was not, in fact, anyone, but Mapbot. It stared at you with beady eyes as you stared back, an awkward chuckle bubbling up in your throat as you gave small finger guns.

“Heeyy,,,uh,,you…Sorry for uh, bumping into you” You got no response as he stared on in silence, You groaned mentally at yourself. As people passing by gave you odd glances. “Cool,,,see you later map bot,,” You coughed as you continued on with your journey to parts and service. Where you spend the majority of your time here, as management will send in text, leaving the list of what end up needing repairs, and where to get spare parts for it” Sighing as you sped walked to your destination, soon the loud music was unhearable as you made your way through rockstar row, the soft jazz theme playing over the speaker, soon to become muffled as you made a left, opening the big gray metal doors, in dull and worn out stickers saying “EMPLOYEE’S ONLY”. Pushing open the door with a small grunt, you huffed face grimacing once again.

You always hated this hallway. The walls were painted a dull red, and the lights flickered, the air smelled of musk and a light dusk, the soft buzz of fluorescent lights ahead behind heard. Your feet echoed with every step you took, as you looked around the dark hallway. It’s not the usual you’d ever truly see something new but it never made it any less of a disturbing area.

Though today didn't seem to be the case.

You paused as you looked into the dark part of the hallway where the light did not reach, as one of the bulbs had gone out a few weeks back. Your steps falter at the gleaming red glowing eyes peeking at you. You took a step back with a soft gasp, clutching onto your phone flashlight quickly to turn it on. There staring up at you happened to be a floor sign bot. His poor eye lights hanging on by wires, and a few shoe print indents on his torso part? At least you always assumed it was a torso. The sign bots were cute, always reminding you of Wall-E.

Sighing softly you walked closer patting his head, having to bend down slightly to do so. “Come on, let’s get you fixed up, yeah?” Despite being used to some robots roaming around the maintenance room, it never stopped giving you a good old spook. Perhaps it was just the ambiance and how ominously quiet the place was. The small whirs of the bot bought you out of thought, as you watched its cameras zoom in and out on you, seemingly struggling to focus, before turning slowly and going back down the hallway and into the open door space, where a soft light lay around the corner, before running into the wall with a soft thud though.

You cringed softly, following with haste, rounding the corner and scanning the room. Today consisted of two staff bots, the poor partially blind sign bot, and the frequent regular raceway bot. Setting your bag down on the small desk in the corner you sat in your swivel chair, spinning in it until you slowed to a stop. All four bots staring at you.

“We can do our routine, finish up with you guys, I work on the arcade and check the systems to send out any updates management may have sent me” Not that you ever truly expected an actual response seeing as the staff bots didn't have as much, free range with vocabulary as the other animatronics, other than a few pre-recorded line, it never stopped you from talking to them. Even if they were robots, they did make it seem as if they were listening. Now that you think about it, the lack of vocalization may be due to how expensive it would’ve been. It kills you to even remember that the four main animatronics were worth millions, maybe even literal billions of dollars. Animatronics that would be worth more than you'd ever have in your bank account, if not in one but maybe even THREE lifetimes.

So one by one, each animatronic was updated, adjusted, fixed, and with the use of the electric teakettle you used to boil water in, and a hefty plunger from the convenience store to get big dents out, each one was slowly finished. Usually, when done they helped clean up a bit before leaving, whether it be sweeping, or handing you tools, you always appreciated the extra help, so it was no surprise to you when a staff bot stayed to sweep. Rolling your office chair, (which had a wheel missing) You laid your screwdriver and electrical tape across your lap as you peeked down at the eyeless sign bot. With a squint you noticed the wires sparking, well that was no good. Looking closer they appear like they’ve been yanked right from the socket. Frowning, you gently reached your hand inside, before yanking it back quickly with a yelp.

Right.

Gloves.

Rolling your chair over to the desk and grabbing your gloves putting them on, only after grimacing at the slight throbbing in your hand before shaking your head loose of the thoughts. Reaching into the socket once more you ever so carefully removed and disconnected the wires from the metal plate inside the small eye lights and began inspecting them. They are entirely busted and need new ones. Sliding the chair back over to the box, you tried not to let out an almost guilty ‘awh’ watching as the poor thing started to spin in circles, cameras rapidly trying to get its vision to focus.

Usually, when bots needed extra pieces and parts they stayed stored under a big cardboard box filled with spare pieces from scrapped bots. Pulling the box out, you rummaged through, in search of new light pieces, but sadly come up short. With a frown, you rummaged more even dumping out some pieces still coming up with nothing. Eyebrows furrowed together, and with a small huff, you looked around in question of what’d you do. Feeling the stare of the staff bot that stayed to help you look up.

“Here at Fazbear Entertainment, we take pride in helping families, customers, and employees. If you ever need assistance please let us know” The generic voice crackled from his voice box. You know they tried and even wanted to communicate, yet they were stuck with only a few lines. Giving a small smile you held up the eye light.

“Know where I can get any more of these?” The robot stared at you as blankly as ever, a long pause before slowly turning on his wheels, eyes never leaving you as he began down the hallway.

“Please follow me.” He called from the hallway. Hopping up, you sat down the old eye lights and patted the mop bot's head. Despite getting startled you still mummer a small ‘be right back.’, as you continued down to follow the staff bot, which honestly can move pretty fast for wheels and carpet, always having you have to do a semi-sprint or speed walk just to keep up. Opening the doors, it looked around before leading you down to the main hall where the crowds and families were, children, running around. The music stopped, other than the normal overhead music that resonated from the speakers, so it must be the animatronics time to hang out in their attractions. Leading you up the escalator, onto the second floor, you find yourselves soon approaching the back, into an elevator. Stepping inside you looked around it. Wasn’t big, but wasn’t too small to where you felt cramped, just enough for a family of five to be honest. The lights flickered a bit overhead, probably something that they would have you fix later.

Clicking the “level 0” button, the bot waited in silence. Messing with the strings of your jacket you tried your best to not feel so awkward. The elevator soon began to move, with a small rumble before it began its retreat down. The elevator music played through the speaker, the noise sounding very similar to the tune that played in Rockstar’s Way, yet softer and had a bit of a twinkle to it.

At the last bit, the lights began to flicker again, the elevator shaking and rumbling loudly. With a gasp, you held onto the wall rail for support as it screeched to a stop, dinging as the doors slowly forced open with an eerie creek. Glancing at the supposedly unbothered staff bot, who happened to be looking at you with expectancy, you slowly began stepping out of the metal shaft, looking around your new surroundings. Squinting, you reached for your phone, turning it on, eyes focusing on the dust that flew around. The air smelled like must, and there was a cold chill that overcame you. Shuddering you zipped up your jacket with a small huff as you looked around only to notice you lost sight of the staff bot.

The sound of the elevator door shutting resonated from behind you.

“H-hey wait a minute” You reached out sprinting back to the door but it had already closed. Huffing as you watched it go back up you groaned as you looked around. It didn't even tell you the directions of the place you were supposed to be going in. Aiming the flashlight at your surroundings you decided the best option would just be to wait for the elevator to come back down. Leaning against the wall you folded your arms closing your eyes.

Your moment's silence was short-lived, a thud further down the hall, echoing through the darkness. Brows furrowed as you opened your eyes, and a few more thuds followed, with the sounds of whirring and clicking. Looking around, you aimed your flashlight back down the hallway to your left. Nothing. Maybe it was old rafters or shelves falling? The establishment appeared to be much older than the higher main levels showed. Though more thuds were repeated, more mechanical whirrs were heard. Your lips tugged downwards as you glanced at the elevator. It wouldn’t hurt to take just a quick check right? Sighing you began to tread forward, your footsteps echoing and patterning through the halls, which happened to have assortments of dusty boxes and shelves of mechanical parts, Some were large crates labeled “Item: endoskeleton Quantity:1”

Even the thought that they had so many robots they may have shipped out or how many more they may be making made you shudder. Despite being used to working with robots, you always found the exoskeleton or the insides to be a bit disturbing. Shaking your head, you continued down the hallway, before finding one of the sources. There on the floor lay an overturned box, many actually that looked scurried through and desperately searched. Claw marks on the side of the cardboard, the insides being spilled out of batteries, flashlights, old lamps, and other random junk are thrown into the box like old merch and sticker packs. Looking around with furrowed brows you continued onwards, following the trails of overturned ransacked boxes. There could be an animal down there. Frowning, you looked around for an item just in case you were to come across some rabid animal, may it be raccoons or dogs who knows. Seeing another dusty merch item, you ripped the tag off of a “Let’s Eat!” Chica pinata bat, and get a firm grip in your hands by doing a few test swings.

Alright, you could handle this. Just some animal. Nothing to worry about. You got this. Continuing down, quieting your footsteps, your eyes squinted at the sight of light, crouching behind a crate you noticed a light-emitting on the wall opposite of the corner, showing off a shadow, it appeared to be a hunched-over figure, rummaging through things. Maybe it was a little raccoon. Sighing and letting out a shaky breath you began to round the corner though what you saw was no animal. Your face paled as you took several steps back. A large, very large figure was rummaging through a box, multiple lamps, and lit flashlights in the area, it was a robot by the sight of most of its exoskeleton showing, accompanied by the whirring clicks of its fingers or well, the fingers of the hand it had, the other arm hung low only hanging on by a few wires, although the paint was faded and chipped, you were sure it was a bright yellow, red and yellow striped yet torn pants, the chassis missing, and left leg exposed, it's yellow encasing nowhere in sight, though the most terrifying? The face, what you assumed or where you assumed the face plate should be was void, the inside just being a mess of wars, and yet, white eyes with glowing red pin[pricks were there, sharp teeth from the mouth of the exoskeleton twitched and jerked, with triangular shaped pieces spun and moved in and out of the face plate. They almost reminded you of the sun rays, although a few seemed missing. The whirring and clicking stopped as it turned to you.

Mouth open agape you stumbled back at what stood before you, seeming as if about to approach and reach for you, you let out a scream, clutching your bat tighter as you began to run. You could hear the clunking of metal on concrete alerting you of the giant animatronic chasing you down. Pushing boxes and crates down in an attempt to slow it down you ran back to the elevator as fast as you could, heart beating in your chest as the clunking approached faster. Clicking rapidly on the elevator button your face paled more at the sight of it crawling. Yes crawling on the walls to reach you, torso twisted normally, with backward legs all clicking and moving rapidly as it approached. Luckily enough for you, the elevator opened as it struggled around the boxes. Pushing into the door you were quick to click the close elevator door button. The lights flickered on the inside as you backed away from the door, breathing rapidly as you clutched your sleeves listening silently.

There was no movement, no clicking, no whirring. Sighing as you desperately tried to catch your breath you slid down to the floor, sighing as you stared at the small window of the elevator. Only to instantly recoil with a scream as it pressed its face against the glass, sunrays have shrunken as its sharp exposed hand clawed against the window, leaving deep scratch marks on it.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was tapping on the glass. Crawling as far back as you could from the glass, you watched it with jerky movements tilt its head at you tapping the glass before slamming a fist at the glass. Before you saw its mouth moving. A static ear-splitting sound resonated from its voice box. None of the words that left its mouth sounded anything remotely human-like. All filled with static and garbled sentences. Tilting its head the other way you glanced at the glass before looking at the buttons, smashing in the level 3 button as fast as you could. A growled-out hiss emitted from it as the elevator began to rise.

“What, the actual, fuck..”

You never got around to finishing that poor mop bot's eyes. After repairing everything else you needed for the night, your eyes could only feel heavy, your mind clouded with paranoia. Even when clocking out, scanning your ID, and leaving the pizza plex, all you could think about was the mutilated bot that lay collecting dust and rotting in the basement. It took you a few minutes before pulling off, maybe 30 minutes, maybe even an hour before the realization of what happened could fully sink in.

Upon arriving home you set down your bag and sat on the couch, taking off your hat. Your hat, that was normally on your head. Frowning with a groan at the realization you tiredly rubbed your hands across your face. You dropped your hat while running from that thing. You were no stranger to the Fazbears company's lack of care for some things, sure the carpet was mysteriously and grossly sticky, or maybe a few minor hazards that can be overlooked, but a giant seven-foot, busted-up animatronic? That they stuffed in some dark musty basement? That’s messed up, even for them. Groaning you pinched the bridge of your nose. Was it even safe to have guests walking around with that thing down the stairs?

Kicking off your shoes you let out another deep sigh running a hand over your eyes. Not to mention that mop bot is just sitting there in the dark where he probably can't see squat. Not to mention the heavy feeling that weighed on your eyes. Shrugging off your jacket, with another groan you dragged yourself to your bedroom where you redressed into some comfy pajamas and climbed into bed. Yet, you just couldn’t find yourself sleeping. Your eyes were focused on the ceiling fan, which you kept on the lowest setting just to keep you from overheating through the night. You frowned. Maybe, you overreacted. Of course, there were bound to be misshapen robots or rundown ones. It didn’t take a genius to notice the rundown line of mini music men that ran through the vents. You could always hear their small symbols or feet tippy tapping in the walls and air vents, but a whole robot?

Your eyebrow quivered as you remembered what had happened. The feeling makes your heart race as it felt you have only just experienced it. Its image came into your mind as your fingers fiddled with your blankets. It almost looked like something was trying to tear it apart. Or well, had. There's no way rot or that much time could do that much damage, sure Maybe a few loose screws and tight joints here and there, even dulled faded, or scratched paint, hell you’d even understand a few cracks in the material or dents, but full on torn to shreds? Even the clothing it wore looked like it had been torn off. The more you think about it, the more you think about how distressed it had seemed. Despite its lack of a faceplate you still found yourself getting an uncomfortable pit in your stomach.

Not to mention. You were a mechanic. You were supposed to help with these kinds of things. Even so, your human emotion overrides all. It was only natural to be scared. That thing looked utterly terrifying. Puffing out a small breath you turned over on your side, biting at the nail on your thumb, your brain wracking and storming with thoughts. It’s not like you couldn’t go back there. You had your hat down there, and the eye peace you needed. Maybe, that was something management needed fixing. You glanced at your phone that lay on the nightstand with drawn brows. Then again, that robot had no appearance like any staff bot you’ve seen. The model was too intricate and the movements a little too flexible and fluid for you to even comprehend, with your knowledge at that. As far as you knew, that machine had full fluid motions over all of its body parts based on the awkward crawling back bend it displayed.

Huffing with a sigh you pulled your pillow over your head in thought. Okay, new plan. Email management in the morning, complete tasks, and get your hat and those eye covers for the mop bot. Nodding in confirmation, you let your eyelids flutter close, which took no time for you to sleep. Before you knew it there you lay, soundly sleeping through the night.

#moondrop #sundrop #eclipse..drop?#sun #moon #eclipse #fnafsb #fnaf #my writing #a sol e luna #fnaf sb fic #dca

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symptoms-syndrome · 1 year ago

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do you wanna rate different sonic designs? like when you put 'sonic designs over the years' in google images the third one (for me) is an image with different sonic designs and the year that one's from haha, i'd be really curious to hear your opinions!!!

I FORGOT TO FINISH THIS anyway here it is now. I have a 10 image post limit tho booooo.

HELL YEAH I DO I'm bad at ratings but I'm going to give my opinions!!! Under a cut bc. Long AF. The Sonics I chose are somewhat arbitrary TBH, and mostly focusing on box art and drawings instead of in-game models

Classic 1991 Sonic Box Art Sonic (Japan)

Fun little guy!!! Adorable! Not my favorite and I think the airbrush style isn't really my thing, but it's very Of The Time and I can respect that. He looks like what he was made for, a mascot for kids! Very friendly

Classic 1991 Sonic Box Art Sonic (USA)

Not gonna lie. Least favorite Sonic design. He looks kinda mean. I don't like his mohawk thing going on. IDK he just looks mean to me and I don't like him very much, I don't see why they had to change the design for America. They didn't change the sprite in the game. He doesn't have the same friendly and fun vibe. Why is his belly shaded like that.

Sonic Adventure/Adventure 2 Box Art (1998-2000)

This guy fucks and I love him. What is that pose? Cool as fuck!!! No respect for staying on model or whatever simply Vibes. He's so stretchy and I think I remember hearing this style was inspired by graffiti, which I can absolutely see. It's iconic, it's cool, it's dramatic, 11/10 all around. It's such a distinctive style and very, very On Brand for Sonic in the late 90s/early 2000s. He's just a cool cool guy!!!

Modern Sonic (general 1998-2000s/today)

Diehard Sonic fans are killing me w their mind RN. If ur not in the Sonic fandom u may not understand, but diehard Sonic fans have extremely strong opinions about their Favorite Modern Sonic or How Modern Sonic Should Look and will start a riot at Sega headquarters over them changing the hex code of his blue or the length of his spikes or legs or what the fuck ever. I'm not even joking people got SO MAD over this change:

Anyway I'm not one of those people. Modern Sonic is just. This guy! You look at him and he's Sonic. To me he's the Base Sonic, the Default Sonic, and I love him a lot! He's my favorite mostly just because I have the most associations with him. He's the Sonic that was in almost all the games I played. He's cool!!! Recognizable from classic Sonic while still looking different, has a lot of personality, distinctive silhouette, all that art school design stuff. But also he's just Sonic! He's cool he's simple. I don't have strong opinions about his design vs others because to me he's just Sonic and I love Sonic very very much.

Sonic Boom (2014-2017)

This guy was REALLY controversial, mostly because it's the biggest design change for Sonic that isn't like, a conditional thing (werehog, Excalibur Sonic, etc.) I really like his design though! They were going for a like, all the Sonic characters are very nature-y (the tape, live on a beach/island in grass roof houses, that kind of thing) and Eggman is very modern and robotic. I think it's cool to give them such distinct looks, also the redesigns to the rest of the cast really emphasized their skills and differences so they didn't look as alike as before, which I like.

I didn't like the Sonic Boom series TBH, it felt too self-deprecating and shallow compared to what I'm used to. A lot of the characters felt very flat, which was disappointing for such a cool redesign. I also hated Sticks (the character on the right) in general, I found her annoying and her character was just kind of a joke on paranoia and stuff like that. But strictly design speaking, I really like Sonic Boom. Not more than regular modern Sonic, but I think it could've been a cool side franchise type thing if they'd like. Been better about it. I also love his neck scarf it gives him puppy vibes to me. Like a golden retriever fresh from the groomer.

Movie Sonic (2020-)

I LOVE THIS GUY!!! He's just a kid! They did a good job of making him look a bit younger than regular modern Sonic, which fits his whole Vibe. I like how they gave his spikes that cool texture while still keeping the shape of Sonic, I was concerned about how they'd do that when the movie was first announced.

He's adorable! I wanna hug him!!! He gives me little brother energy! You look at him and you know what he's about, he's a kid who likes fun!

Okay now getting into some specific designs because! It's my blog and I want to.

Sonic Riders (2006-2010)

This fucks severely. I love the really cool shading style and outline! And the animation for it is sick as hell too!

youtube

IDK it's just super fucking cool I love his shoes and his goggles. He just looks extremely cool, like a big brother in the 2000s.

Sonic OVA (1996)

He's so cute! I like him, he's a little less chibi-esque than classic Sonic but still very cute. I think it fits his attitude, like he's sort of childish in the OVA and he looks like a young teen to me.

Werehog from Sonic Unleashed (2008)

FUCK YEAH MONSTERY SONIC he's so cool. He's so tough looking and I like how they made him really different while still being distinctly Sonic. His arms are stretchy too! I wish Unleashed had polished his gameplay more so he'd be more appreciated.

#sonicposting

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braindisoveryglobalschool · 1 year ago

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#school #playschool #kindergarten #preschool

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ragingstillness · 5 years ago

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Describe anime badly

Bungo Stray Dogs: Famous Authors are all Gay and we been knew

Fullmetal Alchemist: Smol Amputee accidentally takes down the government

xxxholic: Yuuko’s legs are longer than Watanuki’s tolerance for bullshit

Code Geass: Boy with eye transplant takes down the government, on purpose this time, becomes the government, then takes down the government again

Mob Psycho 100: Quest for self improvement goes horribly wrong

The Promised Neverland: If you do not have trauma some will be provided for you

One Punch Man: depressed adult adopts a robot

Attack on titan: you wanted nudity but not this

Tokyo Ghoul: coffee is the food of monsters

Food Wars: rt if you like being hungry and uncomfortable at the same time

Bleach: large groups of men have sword measuring contests

One Piece: what if the preacher kid from the fourth pirates movie was the captain of the black pearl?

Death note: teenagers scare the living shit out of me

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun: real life self insert

Pokemon: what if you could take your pets with you everywhere

Soul eater: teens bond over worshipping death

Little Witch Academia: Harry Potter for adorable girls

Baccano: Doctor Who with mafiosos

Durarara: city so filled with crime it’s amazing people still live there

Hellsing: Ever wondered if Dracula was antifa? Turns out, he is.

Fairy Tail: Friendship! Dead Parents! Dragons! Boobs! More friendship!

Kimi ni Todoke: Having a crush in high school simulator

Free!: swim team described by someone who’s never been on a swim team

Yuri On Ice: gay seratonin on ice

Noragami: God is a homeless bum

Ao no exorcist: teenage rebellion might not have been a good idea

Another: the hunger games for middle schoolers

Death Parade: you can drink in purgatory

Assassination classroom: never thought a tentacle monster would make you cry did you?

Deadman wonderland: wrongful imprisonment

Overlord: gamer boy dedicates his life to topping the leaderboards...oh and mercilessly killing people

Black Butler: since when can twelve year olds sign legally binding contracts?

Ouran High School host club: smooth genderfluid protagonist has their choice of the handsomest men and the prettiest women and somehow gets both

Black Lagoon: male Elizabeth Swan meets female Barbossa

Dangonronpa the animation: it’s really not worth it to leave school early

Mushishi: fall asleep to people being dumb about magic

Ben-to: ever wanted to fist fight someone in a grocery store? Now you can

Classicaloid: man discovers cloning only to use for stupidest reason ever

Steins;gate: Groundhog Day but somehow more fucked up

Castlevania, the animation: fantasy throuple goals

Akikan: congrats, you no longer have to choose between your girlfriend and your love for a cold one

Erased: childhood take two somehow more traumatic than the first

Grand Blue Dreaming: fish-scented hijinks

Demon slayer: traveling with children in suitcases

Serial experiments lain: the evil baby of a physics degree and a computer science degree with some philosophy for flavor

Cardcaptor Sakura: who gave this child a job?

K-ON!: if band kids were cool

D N Angel: must be gay to play

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: the clamp cinematic universe

Skip Beat!: what people who don’t live in LA think LA is

Maid-sama!: blackmail + frills = love?

Baka and Test: an arcade game but make it anime

The Devil is a Part-Timer: I think this title explains itself

Angelic Layer: Lego League on steroids

Princess Jellyfish: what happens when you let only autistic people rent apartments

Prince of Tennis: it’s middle school tennis, chill out

Yu-Gi-Oh (4Kids version): watch as I point my finger at you aggressively

Yu-Gi-Oh zero: the Saw franchise but make it Squid Game

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?: yes.

Arakawa under the bridge: trendy homelessness

The Way of the Househusband: male-wife has never been so accurate

Library Wars: if ardent readers formed a militia

Shaman King: I see dead people

Rave Master: that sword is taller than you are son

Magic Knight Rayearth: magical girls with galactic stakes

Rosen Maiden: Victorian Chucky

Shugo Chara: childhood development simulator, also eggs

Vampire Game: genderfluidity off its fucking rocker

Two Flowers for the Dragon: Love Triangle but your gf might eat you

My Next Life as a Villainess: the dictionary entry for ‘clueless bisexual’

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches: kiss kiss turn into a witch

Violet Evergarden: cyborgs can get ptsd too

Moriarty the Patriot: the gayest Sherlock Holmes adaptation you’ve ever seen and that’s saying something

Cells at Work: we finally did it, we anthropomorphized the human body

Don’t Mess with Eizoken: if only entry level jobs were this easy to find

+anima: trauma, but at least you get to be part bird now

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K: high school surprisingly cool with kid with antennae on his head

D.Gray-man: the exorcist but cool

Tegami Bachi: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Blood Lad: the resurrection of Christ vampire edition

Kitchen Princess: 2000s rom-com that also makes you hungry

Kamisama Kiss: god is a homeless bum take two

Teasing Master Takagi-San: puppy love simulator

Pandora Hearts: Alice in Wonderland but no fun at all

The Earl and the Fairy: Rudolph but people

Lovely complex: we stan short kings in this house

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thanksjro · 4 years ago

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More Than Meets the Eye #12- Gay Rights: the Movie

Finally finished with our franchise obligations! Let’s get back to the main story.

Those are some ominous ellipses. Almost like something bad is going to happen!

Let’s take a look at Cover A for this issue.

When this was released to the general public, alongside the synopsis that stated the Lost Lighters were going to run into a group of Decepticons, a lot of people thought we’d be seeing them meet the Scavengers. This isn’t the case, and that’s not Fulcrum. It’s some other K-Con, one that has purple in his color scheme.

Our story opens up with a narrative framing device:

Welcome to “Before & After”, one of the more ambitious issues of MTMTE in terms of storytelling. Roberts really likes bouncing between scenes and POVs, and he’s really indulging that here.

Rodimus and crew have loaded up on one of the Lost Light’s scouting ships to check in on a planet called Temptoria. Whirl’s leading all the guys in the front in a war cry that wouldn’t be out of place in Hollywood’s version of the Vietnam war, while Brawn demonstrates how to not properly handle a gun. Rodimus tries to explain what exactly they’ll be doing, but no one’s listening, feeding off of the chaotic energy. The back seat isn’t quite as rowdy.

Oh, Ambulon’s here? That’s got to be awkward. And Perceptor’s looking mighty cross about having to pick up a gun again. Isn’t he supposed to be retired from being a science sniper?

Rodimus finally gets everyone to settle down long enough to explain the situation, though not without a little jargon mixup.

Basically, Ultra Magnus went down to Temptoria while the “Shadowplay” story was being told, and found out that the organic populace had been enslaved by a group of Decepticons, and, more importantly, the sovereign agreement that the planet had with Cybertron’s been violated. Also, these guys might have been the one’s who kidnapped the Circle of Light. You remember those guys, right? The guys who were supposed to be in the 2012 Annual, but they weren’t, and Drift got really mad about it.

Rodimus wraps up the briefing with a “’Til all are one!” And we cut over to see what Swerve and Tailgate are up to. Tailgate seems to be a little nervous, not the type to enjoy waiting, but Swerve seems to be doing just fine. Why is that, exactly?

Even if Rung’s still a steamed side dish of a vegetable, he’s still here, in a way. And good on Swerve for not assuming Tailgate can visualize in the same way he can. Aphantasia is more common than one might think.

Escapism is an interesting way of dealing with your problems, but I don’t know enough about wartime psychiatry to know if this is something that would actually be considered a viable solution or not.

Oh, now that I’ve said it, I’ve got the research itch.

Later, later.

Anyway, Tailgate gives it a spin, and his happy place is surprisingly domestic for such a seasoned professional.

Pipes, it’s a clear glass, it’s not hiding anything from you.

Speaking of Pipes, he’s seated next to Hound, as they discuss what happened to Red Alert. Or, rather, the cover story that’s been fed to the rest of the crew by Rodimus, which is that the engine room pretty much attacked him. This is how ghost stories get started.

Trailcutter’s gotten some guns installed in his legs, because he’s a hypocrite.

Over with Chromedome and Rewind, there’s trouble in paradise, as they’re having a lovers’ spat. Chromedome’s giving Rewind the silent treatment, and Rewind’s having none of it. What exactly are they fighting about? We don’t get to know about that yet, but it’s digging up other issues, like Chromedome going back on his promise to stop injecting. The only thing keeping this from becoming a total meltdown is Whirl can-canning through the door to kidnap Rewind, so he can film Whirl getting in the zone before the fight. Whirl’s having a great time. This is probably the first time they’ve gotten to fight something since the Lost Light took off, and he’s all about it.

Rewind’s dragged away, and Chromedome just lets it happen, because he’s feeling cross. It’s good to take a moment to cool off, but I’m not quite sure this was the best time or way for it to happen.

Meanwhile, on the Temptorian surface, Blip the Decepticon, who is likely the dirtiest son of a gun we’ve run into so far, is asked to take a look at the monitor by a guy who sounds exactly like Megatron. It doesn’t particularly matter which Megatron, because comics are not an audio-based medium, so you can pick whichever one you like best. What’s on the monitor does not please Blip in the slightest.

I feel like maybe having guys who don’t turn into flying machines jump out of the bottom of the shuttlecraft isn’t the greatest tactical thinking, but I’m sure everything will be okay. Brawn’s got a gun, maybe he’ll figure out how to rocket-jump before he hits terminal velocity.

Then the narrative jumps to after the fight, as the ship flies away from the scene, and Chromedome isn’t happy. It’s for a different reason than earlier, though.

Man, Pipes just can’t win, can he?

Ambulon remembers that he is, in fact, a medical professional, and starts working on Rewind, while Chromedome tries to ask Swerve just what the hell happened. Swerve’s having his own issues, however.

I’d nearly forgotten they had skeletons.

On the production side of this issue, we’ve got two artists: there’s our usual guy, Alex Milne on the “Before” sections, and Brandon Cahill on the “After”. Cahill’s other Transformers work includes The Transformers (2009) and the sister series to MTMTE, Robots in Disguise. Outside of the franchise, he’s worked on several Marvel pieces, including writing Sable & Fortune and Legion of Monsters. Unlike a lot of the alternate artists we’ve seen for the series, Cahill won’t be a one-and-done; we’ll see his art again in Dark Cybertron, Season 2 of MTMTE, and even Lost Light.

Getting back to the story, we’ve jumped back to the point in the battle where everyone’s hit the ground and are just wailing on each other. Tailgate and Swerve watch the chaos unfold, as Ultra Magnus more or less takes on a platoon of Decepticons.

Drift’s having a great time, as he Naruto runs through the enemy, slashing as he goes with a big ol’ smile on his face. He stabs a guy in the back of the head who was trying to grapple with Rodimus, thus interrupting the little dialogue they had going on. Rodimus is vaguely upset that his moment was cut short.

In the “After”, the shuttle’s landed back on the Lost Light, and Chromedome rushes out with Rewind in his arms to find First Aid with a motorized stretcher. He was hoping for Ratchet- he wants only the best for his shnookums. As they run Rewind down to the medibay, Chromedome starts listing off his allergies- which include ultraviolet light, something we know reveals mnemosurgery scars. This is a holdover from a dropped plot point I’ll cover at a later time; as it stands in the canon narrative, Rewind’s just got an allergy to the friggin’ sun.

Back at the shuttle, Tailgate starts dragging Cyclonus down the gangplank. Oh, hell. You know it’s a bad situation when the guy who literally couldn’t die for six million years is out of commission.

Spoke and Lockstock are a bit of a gag- they always manage to get their asses kicked, but everyone on the ship really likes them. They will never be seen on-panel, and have no character designs.

Over in the medibay, history is being made.

Esteemed members of the jury, I present to you: canon gay robots. The first in a long line of them. This is the starting point of the queer community being handed the Transformers franchise on a silver platter.

Up to this point, Roberts hadn’t gotten any further than implied attraction and affection between robots, in either his fanworks or professional credits. Pretty heavy-handed implication in some cases-

-but implication nonetheless. Here is the first, honest-to-god direct confirmation of two male-coded robots in love.

In love and space-married and recognized by the authority in power, in a comic written in 2012, as a part of a major franchise owned by a massive American company, three years before same-sex marriage would be legalized on a federal level.

As part of the story, it’s great. Within the context of the time during which it was published, it’s a whole other level. This wasn’t just good writing, it was important.

Let me part the kimono a little here, with some personal backstory- I grew up in Buttfuck Nowhere, NC, and went to a high school that was so homogeneous, they were threatening to bus students in after I graduated. I didn’t know what a gay person even was until I was 12. “Lesbian” was used as an insult, and it was one I was subjected to because I had cut my hair short in middle school and wore cargo shorts on occasion. It was something I really pushed against, because that’s how a lot of people react to being forcibly given a label.

Not the best environment for a little queer kid, clearly.

It wasn’t until well after I’d gone to college that I really started understanding who I was. Hell, I’m still figuring some things out, but at least I’m getting somewhere.

I remember reading this for the first time in 2015- yes, I got into the comics sort of late- and then having to reread it. I needed a moment just to process what had happened. As a person who had only recently come to terms with their sexuality at the time, it was kind of mind-blowing to have that sort of representation, especially since I was also watching Transformers Prime at around the same time. Talk about the duality of man, am I right?

These days, there’s a lot more representation in many different forms of media. Things are getting better. Which, y’know, yay! I’m glad. I just can’t help but wonder if things would have been a little different if this sort of representation had been available earlier on.

Anyway, so yes, Chromedome’s got a difficult choice to make for Rewind- either let his body try to sort itself out, or let First Aid break out the clamps and try to jumpstart him. Rewind’s got a relatively rare spark type, but luckily Chromedome’s the same type. Looks like everything’s coming up roses for our boys!

Tailgate and Cyclonus aren’t getting nearly as good a break.

My god, he’s filled with grape soda!

Back in the “Before”, things are getting a little silly.

Chromedome, what POSSIBLE tactical advantage could you be gaining from riding the giant, fire-breathing robot dinosaur? This is why they threw you in Kimia, isn’t it? Because you’re a dumbass.

While this bullshit is happening, Rewind and Tailgate are stacked on top of each other to look through a window, because I guess that’s just how things turn out when the resident couple on the ship is upset with one another. Rewind’s found something, but it isn’t the Circle of Light. Rather, it seems the Decepticons are dabbling in Pink Alchemy- a rather inefficient process that allows organic creatures to be turned into energon for consumption.

The good guy thing to do would be to save all the organics, but there’s a bit of a problem- the door is wired to a massive bomb. Good thing Tailgate was in Bomb Disposal, and is just generally an impressive and well-established dude. He gets to work.

Getting back to a point I made during Chaos Theory, Whirl can’t make a fist. Punching himself in the face is probably more akin to slashing it.

Tailgate’s got a weird approach to bombs, taking the time to teach Rewind how to do it, by way of student-led learning. They decide to poke a hole in the bottom of the bomb to drain all the explosive fluid out, which Tailgate does with little robot tears streaming down his face. Fear is a great motivator.

Oof, not a “Domey” in sight. That’s how you know things are rough.

Outside of this little scene, Whirl and Cyclonus are handling Decepticons. Whirl’s got a hold on that guy who’s voiced by Frank Welker, and we get a nice shot of his sad cat face before Whirl turns his head into a memory.

Swerve- who is also here- asks Whirl to loan him a gun.

GODDAMMIT SWERVE.

Not a single one of you bastards know proper gun safety! Between all the severe depression and reckless weapon-handling, I genuinely have no idea how the hell are any of you are still alive.

In the “After”, Chromedome’s just finished jumpstarting Rewind, and it’ll take a bit to see if it worked, so he’s left alone with his thoughts.

Just kidding, Tailgate’s come over to check in. Seems like Cyclonus is gonna pull through, something Chromedome’s not terribly thrilled about. Chromedome’s still miffed about the whole Kimia thing.

We finally learn why Chromedome and Rewind were fighting; it was because Rewind, as a walking historical database, has been deemed too important to die, and can opt out of any fight he choose to, but he doesn’t, thereby putting himself in harm’s way unnecessarily. Maybe he just worries about you when you go out there on the battlefield alone, Chromedome, you ever think of that? Maybe he doesn’t want to wonder when his husband will return home from the war.

Tailgate asks about all the little vials that are scattered around Rewind’s hospital bed, and we get a little Cybertronian tradition thrown at us.

The vials are filled with innermost energon, the stuff that surrounds the spark casing and never changes, no matter how much you modify or upgrade your body. Leaving a little of the stuff for someone in an offering signifies that you care very much for that person. Chromedome can’t give Rewind any, because he was “born dry”, but I think being space-married to the guy more than makes up for it.

Tailgate asks how the two of them met, and unlike in issue #6, Chromedome is feeling vulnerable enough to indulge the question this time.

But first we need to establish that Chromedome is insanely insecure.

So, Rewind is fucking old. He’s older than the Cybertronian civil war, he’s older than the calendar system, and he’s old enough to have been affected by Functionist society’s categorization system. Due to being a memory stick- something that there were millions of back in the day- Ratioism dictated that Rewind as an individual was worth very little, and made him and his like into slaves. Because he was a slave, he needed a master, and that master was none other than Dominus Ambus, also known as Cybertron’s Mech of the Year for 40,000 consecutive years.

Even on Cybertron, there’s a weird stigma about breastfeeding.

Rewind and Dominus quickly became friends, because that’s just the sort of guy Rewind is, and it made Dominus realize that maybe these slaves Cybertron had been working to death were sentient creatures worthy of respect too. He even developed a test to prove that all the slave classes were on the same level of functionality as everyone else.

On their quest to find a cure for the horrible disease Cybercrosis, Rewind and Dominus fucked off into space, on a wild goose chase to try and find Luna 1, the Cybertronian moon that just disappeared one day. Weird, that. They didn’t find it, and by the time they’d come back home, the war was well underway. They immediately became Autobots, and that was it for a while.

Then we move on to how Chromedome and Rewind met, and boy is it a doozy.

Chromedome had decided he wanted to kill himself, so he moseyed on over to the nearest relinquishment clinic- they did assisted suicides instead of body-swaps at this point- to do the deed. He was sitting in the waiting room, when he heard someone screaming. He wandered into the back to find Rewind weeping over a coffin, and he thought to himself “Maybe I don’t need to die after all” as he offered his future conjunx a shoulder to cry on.

What a fucking dark start to a relationship.

Rewind wasn’t upset about anyone who was dead though, but rather missing- Dominus had disappeared into thin air months ago, and Rewind was getting desperate to find him, looking in more and more awful places in the hope of recovering what he’d lost.

As it turns out, he’s still doing that. The reason the two of them are on the Lost Light is because Rewind needs to find Dominus- alive or dead, it doesn’t seem to particularly matter at this point. That’s why he buys snuff films in dark alleys.

See, Tailgate gets it.

Guys, bad news.

Chromedome’s spark is too weak to jumpstart Rewind. Unless they find another compatible donor, Rewind’s gonna be in big trouble. There’s nothing to do but wait.

Later, in their room, Chromedome is sitting on the floor and very much not following doctor’s orders to get some sleep. Someone on the opposite side of the door he’s leaning up against starts talking to him. Chromedome doesn’t seem to want to hear any of it, until he does.

Given who the basement dweller is, this probably won’t turn out so hot.

Chromedome gets a call from the medibay, and fortunately the universe has decided to play nice this go around, because someone came forward as a match.

But it’s not like Whirl cares about anyone, right? Not in the slightest, nuh-uh, not him!

While Chromedome gives Whirl what is probably an uncomfortably long hug, and they both most likely ignore the fact that Chromedome would be actively suicidal without Rewind, Tailgate’s off in the corner, having taken his hand off and begun pouring cartoon toxic waste into a vial. It’s actually his innermost energon. Boy’s making an offering, but it isn’t to Rewind.

It’s to this ungrateful fuck.

Cyclonus stalks away from Tailgate’s kindness, until he’s stopped by witnessing the power of love.

Everyone likes Rewind, and these displays of affection seems to have reminded Cyclonus that he’s horrifically lonely. Feeling some remorse over his actions- not that he’ll ever admit it out loud- he goes back to help Tailgate pick up the pieces of the vial he broke.

Wrapping up our story, we go back to the “Before”, right before the bomb is set to go off. Whirl and Cyclonus have more or less taken care of the Decepticons, Whirl suggests they set aside their differences and agree to stop trying to murder each other, in a surprising show of reason and, perhaps, self-preservation. Cyclonus doesn’t seem to agree with the idea.

I genuinely think that’s the most he’s said all series up to this point.

Rewind calls the two idiots over for help, because Tailgate’s about to pull a self-sacrifice to get this bomb emptied, and he just isn’t listening to reason. Cyclonus assists.

Once Tailgate’s been fastball-specialed out of the room, Whirl decides to get back to being a bastard, and locks Cyclonus and Rewind in with the bomb with 10 seconds left on the clock. Ah, so the donation was out of guilt, I see. Still a form of caring, in its own way.

With no way to escape, all Cyclonus can do is attempt to shield Rewind with his body as the bomb goes off.

That’s the end of the issue but it’s the middle of the story, and despite what Cyclonus says, dynamics are changing. Slowly, but surely, things are shifting. He’s headed for a lot of character development, and he’ll be kicking and screaming the whole way.

#transformers #jro #mtmte #issue 12 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #overthinking about robots #incoming analysis #comic script writing

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Reviewcaps: X-Men Evolution: Strategy X

I take my first look at X-Men Evolution the second and less famous, but no less loved, cartoon about everyones faviorite mutant outcasts. In our first episode Scott blows up a gas station, Nightcrawler finds what it feels like to have a home, Toad tries to join the x-men and both of the latter two end up nearly dying because Chuck forgot to teleport proof the one room in the house with deadly lasers. All this and football under the cut.

A few days ago I realized something weird: I hadn’t reviewed any superhero cartoons on here. What makes that weird to me, is that I realized when writing this that Superhero cartoons are what MADE me a superhero fan in the first place. I grew up as a little kid watching the spider-man and x-men animated series, and watched most marvel shows that came about as I grew, and became a lifelong fan of Green Lantern and the Flash thanks to Justice League , the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thanks to the 2003 cartoon (another franchise I absolutley adore I haven’t covered on here for some reason) and the Teen Titans thanks to well.. Teen Titans, not to mention all the great original superhero shows at the time like the legendary Danny Phantom (even if butch heartman can take a short walk into a cave full of bears lately), My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre.. the list of good shit goes on. So being on an X-Men kick again lately, I decided to revisit what turned out to be one of the first of this wave, and a show I’d had the opporoutnity to binge for a while , first on hulu and then on D+, and wanted to revisit to see how it holds up, while, if not as fast as I watch them, reviewing them here to combine my two intrests. And it probably wont’ be the last marvel animated series I binge or cover here, nor the last superhero show I cover so if you have any, Marvel, DC, from other companies or completely original, shoot me an ask or reply to this and i’ll see if I can get to it. For now we’re starting the evolution. Evolution was the first X-Men cartoon, and somehow one of 5 overall not counting the hulk vs wolverine movie, pryde of the x-men pilot and various crossover apperances in other cartoons, to follow the 90′s one, which as you probably know was a huge hit that defined the x-men for a generation of young fans, was a huge sucess and launched the mostly great sorta shared cartoon universe with classics like Spider-Man the Animated Series (Which not concidentally is what made me a lifelong fan of the webslinger), The Incredible Hulk, and the second season of Iron Man and Fantastic Four.. and yes only the second as the first seasons were both by entirely diffrent creative teams and gave us things like this.

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Yes that is Johnny Storm doing an objetivley terrible hip hop song, no it dind’t cause that building to sink into the earth, and yes it is so bad it’s delcioius. Sadly the rest of hte series is more flat and boring than “bwahahahaha” but my point is made. The point is Evolution had a steep hill to climb, and with the previous cartoon compressing most of the decades long Chris Claremont era and some of what came after into 5 seasons of good if cheesy stuff, the creators clearly, if only because Ic an’t find a making of, decided to go in a diffrent route, making their own unique take on the characters and world of the x-men instead. For starters rather than being vetrans with years of experince, either from being an x-man or just from general life experince like the comics were since the 70′s aside from the ocasinal exception like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee, they’d be teens, grappling with hormones alongside blue fur, head lasers and not being able to touch anyone. This wasn’t something x-men had shied away from, New Mutants and Generation X existed, but it was the first time in decades the X-Men themselves were kids. Sure Storm and Wolverine weren’t aged down, but there were just as many missions that were just these teenagers hoping to surivive the experince and keep mutants a secret till the world was ready.. and then dealing with the fallout when an unready and hateful world found out anyway. And I honeslty like the direction: The previous series had done the mostly straight adaptation bit, there wasn’t anywhere to go and aging scott and jean back to teens, and having nightcrawler and rouge get to be ones for the first time though, was an intresting idea, as was having Kitty Pryde be a teen alongside them instead of their plucky teenage member Another intresting direction was, while Xavier’s still existed and was where the cast lived and learned to use their powers, the X-Men also went to regular high school. While it’d take till season 3 for them to actually have to deal with being out mutants in the setting, it was still an intresting tactic: The X-school in the comics, while no less studious is still an isoalted boarding school and when the New Mutants met some friends in town, most had only heard whispers about the old Xavier Mansion and were delighted to visit for a slumber party.. granted this being an x-men schindig our heroes ended up having to deal with an alien who eventually became one of their closest friends that night but still, for the x-men having the robot, or technoorganic in this case, NOT try to murder them on purpose and be a loveable 80′s sidekick instead is an easy night. While i’ts not done perfectly here from what I can remember, the main human characters we see are nightcrawlers love intrest amanda (who is thankfully NOT his adopted sister this time around thank christ), local stock blond football bully and flash thompson impersonator Duncan, and Scott’s nondiscript friend paul, who I can’t think of without thinking two things; one , what do you WANT paul:

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I mean a man so vauge just can’t be trusted. The second is that paul looks a lot like Doug Ramsey and i’m suprised they didn’t just.. make him Doug and have him go through a similar arc from the comics:A crush on kitty and the rest of the team finding out he’s a mutant and eventually bringing him into their world. For those unaware Doug Ramsey is a mutant with the ablility to translate any languge, including computer code from the get go and body laungage when he came back, an easy fix to him being the non-combatant of the group no one thought of, who died tragically in story sacrifcing himself to save his girlfriend’s life and out of story because the artist tricked the writer into killing him off. Thankfully he did come back about two decades later, took a level in badass thanks to a combination of the body language thing above meaning he could anticipate moves and dodge and computers having advanced to the point that part of his powers was now 80 times more useful, and has recently become a key part of the dawn of x relaunch. He’s also a faviorite of mine as you can probably tell and given how much the early 2000′s loved their computers, it’s weird to me they didn’t think of this and it’s even weirder he didn’t show up with the lions share of the other new mutants next season, along with Karma and Warlock which somehow has become a recurring theme thanks to the movie saving them for sequels that ended up not happening because fox stupidly put the movie in Limbo where it remains until maybe next month. But yeah even if muted a bit the idea of the x-men going to a public school alongside their training is a decent one.. sure a hero going through high school is again a cliche, but it’s a thing the x-men hadn’t done in this way before or sense, and was intresting to see in action. Most high school scnees in x-comics are usually some poor mutant having their powers manifest and either hurting someone by accident, being treated like crap for it by their class or hunted down for accidently hurting someone before the x-men show up to kick their asses and welcome this youngster. Or getting rejected by family and friends then coming to the x-men.. there’s a lot of angst directions to go in. My point is we’d never seen the x-men try to blend in and have a more standard school experince, and combining that with them hiding their powers instead of being out in the open at first made for a unique dynamic for the x-men that makes well tread ground nice nad fresh even 20 years later.

So that’s our basic setup going in: The X-men wake up, go to school, then save the world or train to save the world while harnesing wonderful and dangerous powers and protecting the helpless agaist less charitable mutants. The basic x-setup with a 2000′s era superhero high school show flavor. Good stuff. But we’ll see what it does with this premise, how good it holds up and what’s still delightfuly cheesy about it as I take a nice look at the first episode Strategy X

We open at night and

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Yup Scott and Jean are at the football team where the aforementioned Duncan, guy voted most likely to peak in high school in last year’s yearbook poll, is playing some foot ball and trying to flit with Jean Grey whose the first X-Man we meet and is somehow receptive to this despite his radaiating douche and is lucky this Jean’ , unlike say the time transfered one from the comics who thought the best approach to helping Bobby Drake come out of the closet so he could help his older self do the same and be his best self, was to just blunty say he’s gay and refuse to let him explore thtt for himself or get someone more quliafied to help her. And yes that did indeed happen and yes the original x-men were brought into the present for a while and yes it was weird Moving on. Still i’m pretty sure duncan’s thoughts would read like “Man she looks good.. I want to bang her so hard she uh.. wakes up sideways.. yeah that’s it. Your a legend duncan, a total legend. “. As you can probably tell I don’t have fond memories of this character or this sorta but not really love triangle, and question why they couldn’t of just had spyke be the other man in the triangle if they wanted to do this. Granted Spyke himself is kinda annoying, but it still makes more sense to have him fill in for angel or wolverine in a jean-scott love triangle than this walking burnt end. The warren, scott one worked, as much as a 60′s love triangle could because warren was conventionally handsome and had angel wings while scott has to keep glasses on just to not murder anyone he looks at, so there’s a bit of contrast there, while with WOlverine it’s straight laced dependeble scott versus unhinged manly man Logan. You know before recently where they just decided to all bone in a pile and wolverine even goes on vacation with them. And that’s not a joke I made up, that’s actual canon. Both make logical sense while Jean would be intrested in both in the former case, as Scott was still a kind and dependable leader, and tempted in the latter case if never acting on it before recently and with her husband’s full consent and either watching from the closet or taking one up the ass for jean to watch. Duncan in contrast is just wholly unlikeable and it makes me question why use him as the third in this love triangle, ESPECIALLY since the show would later introduce another scott and jean based love triangle with Rogue wanting scott that’s way more intresting, and even people wanting those two to hook up don’t want Jean with Duncan! Instead of creating a vitable alternative to make a later love triangle more intresting or create some shipping wars or anything of value any hint jean may be intrested just wastes screentime and tests my patience and is thankfully breif here. As for why Jean’s here sh’es taking pictures for the school paper since the Daily Bugle wasn’t intrested in photos that weren’t of spider-man and they already had a teen photographer for that. Porker or something. Anyways this episode ofa low rent friday night lights knockoff is interuptted when one of duncan’s buddies on the team spots local trouble maker and ,judging by context, bully punching bag Todd Tolansky, aka Toad which is a cruel nickname turned slightly lesss cruel code name here, pick pocketing the people in the stands, and sensing a flimsy context to punch a nerd, Duncan goes to tell the coah he’ll be busy for a moment totally not carving someone’s face in again. Coach says as long as he leaves him breathing, and through a straw still counts and since their so far ahead as long as he’s back for the celebratory rampage anything goes. Also spotting Toad’s stan pines approved sticky fingers is Scott Summers, leader of x-men and all around cool guy. Scott here is a bit more emotive than he was int he comics at a time, a trait he’d have later on in the late 2000′s and even currently and a version I prefer to the “has something shoved so far up his ass you can see it when he opens his mouth” boring straightman of the 90′s cartoon. He’s a bit more impulsive, a bit more emotivie but still a good and well thought out leader and the tactical genius, at least as far as I can remember, that he’s known for being. IT’s a good portayal so far, it reminds me of 2k12 leonardo: he’s still growing into being a leader in some way but clearly has the talent and drive for it and a deep sense of heroism> That deep sense is shown here as Scott leaves to go confront toad.. and then confronts Duncan and buds when he finds them about to squish Toad. Unlike Duncan, whose “heroism” consits of a filmy excuse to beat a third hole into todd’s head, Scott wanted to stop Toad because it’s the right thing to do, and wants to stop Duncan because his actions are just as wrong: Sure Toad is stealing stuff, but it’s clear from the way he and his buddies grin widlly at seieng toad pick pocket that they just want an excuse to pummel the kid and not get in trouble for it. It’s confirmed when Scott makes a resonable offer: Since Toad still has the money and most of the lifted wallets, he can return what he stole, which Toad not wanting to die today agrees to, but Duncan refuses. Scott however gets the three thrown to the ground and while Toad escapes, with the two other idiots in persuit, an enraged duncan attacks. But since Scott Summers, even teen scott summers has batman level judo, it’s an even fight despite Duncan being bigger and more muscular.. until Jean runs in shouts scott no.. despite you know Duncan starting this and Scott merley defending himself, distracts Scott long enough for him to get shoved to the ground.. and loose his googles, sending an optic blast out before he can clamp his eyes shut, knocking duncan over and igniting a nearbye propane tank. Toasty! Also yikes. Cue the opening theme and credits. While the opening Creidts are very 2000′s, they aren’t half bad but the main draw is the theme song which.. honestly I feel is great and very close to the 90′s x-men theme in quality, only not being AS good because that one’s one of the best theme songs period. but this one’s no slouch as it’s fun, energetic and will get stuck in your head. Good stuff. After the theme we cut back to the credits where Scott is closing his eyes despeartly holding his powers in. It was a good opening and a great way to show off the premise of the show and just how dangerous mutant powers can be even accidnetally, with this followup showing it’s not inetentional. it was even shown before as while scott’s eyes flash, he notably never uses his powers in the fight and they only came about accidnetally. We also get some JeanScott ship tease as she finds his glasses ,and with Duncan having a concusion and not remembering anything, a bit that hasn’t aged well, things seem well.. except the cop seems to notice something supscious.. before help arrives in a rolls royce. Charles Xavier, voiced by the icomprable David Kaye who I feel is one of the best daviers and does a great job here and quickly makes the guy see nothing supscious, a classic use of his powers and an understdanable one: while yea going into someone’s mind isn’t a great tihng to do.. scott being possibly outed as a mutant this way would only land the poor boy in a jail cell, as it did for Bobby Drake in the comics when his own powers activated and hurt someone. We also meet storm who unlike the others isn’ aged downa nd is one of two senior staffers for the school, a touch I like as she was a great mentor figure to kitty pryde and the comics and the roll suits her, while evolution also tones down the ham 80 degrees so she’s even more like the comics; reserved but utterly confident and badass and a good #2 to xavier. Xavier also likely wiped Duncan’s memory of scott’s power triggering I figure.. I mean he could’ve got concussed but I wouldn’t be suprised if chuck manipualted that too. Jean comforts Duncan for.. again some reason. Like he was just in a fight with her best friend and she’s a telepath.. I get she’s being respectful but time and place. Scott is naturally Jelly, but Toad.. genuinely thanks Scott for the help while Scott brushes it off. It was the right thing to do and Toad is still a creep, but it’s still a nice gesture. Also toad eats a fly to show that yep he too is a mutant. Xavier and Storm go to the train station and pick up a mysterious teen clad all in robes. Ohohoo hominus. Meanwhile somewhere in the westchester area, Wolverine comes in! Snkity sknikty snoik. He’s voiced by, and dresses exactly like, Scott McNeil, a vetran and awesome voice actor who I honestly think does a better job than his prdecessor. Not that 90′s wolverine is bad, it’s just McNeil has more of a range even while keeping the gutteral growl of hte former and can tur it off at times while his previous acto rwas pretty much on snarl mode constantly. He wasn’t bad, all the 90′s voice actors were at 100 most of the time and undersndably given the hamm nature of that cartoon, but its’ still a ncie change of pace and one we’d see again with steve blum in the next cartoon. More on that obviously when i inevitably cover Wolverine and the X-Men He picks up a paper about the explosion, and sensing he must go his people need him, cuts the top off the water he ordered, because you can’t get beer on a childrens cartoon, and thanks the clerk who wonders what the fuck just happened. And it’s a weird ass scene especially because in this series the x-men are trying to keep a lid on mutants and Logan’s just .. causally cutting off a water bottle because fuck it. It fits the character a LITTLE but it’s still just weird and out of place. Speaking of weird and out of place sabertooth is stalking logan on a mountaintop because..

Thank you wrestlecrap. He dosen’t show up again and is apparently introduced several episodes from now, and sports a design similar to the 2000 movie which isn’t a terrible look apart from the long lead singer from Creed haircut. The next morning at Xavier’s scott’s annoyed at jean taking her time in the bathroom because “women amirite?”.. yeah...

On that gag. Before the two dart off for school Xavier calls them in to meet the new kid: Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, whose blue and fuzzy as ever, though without the fully yellow eyes he usually sports, though I figure it’s less because they wanted to make him more humanoid, though his Kelso from that 70′s show hair certainly helps with that too, and more because that way his human disguise he’ll get in a bit can just be an easily just recolor and redres his civlilan design. Though why he couldn’t just have the yellow eyes in elf form and give him regular ones in transducer form, epsecially since they had to make a whole new outfit and ears for his non elf form anyway is beyond me, but whatever. At least he’s a full part of the team here and oh so adorkable. As you can probably wager by the fact there’s only 3 x-men and one asshole here, Evolution takes it’s time introducing everybody, the first few episodes using the debut queue style of storytelling and introducing the main cast about one or two per episode.. which I like a lot as it gives each of the x-men room to breathe and get a proper introduction, while usually doing the same for the latest addition to the brotherhood. IT’s a godo way to ease us into a decently sized main cast and let each get their own origin story of sorts. Good stuff.

Jean and Scott are shocked by the poor boys three fingers, but Charles helps asuage kurt.. by pointing out scott’s fuckup then berating him. Both don’t come off great: Scot whines about having two cannonballs under his eyes, which while fair is something he knew going into a situation where they might get knocked off and didn’t prepare for, while Charles lambasts him for “not having more control”.. and his tone implies it’s more about his POWERS. If it was about self control fine, that’d be godo character stuff but if it’s of his powers.. Scott didn’t use his powers at all during the breif scuffle and was only let loose by pure shock, and something you easily covered for minus the explosion part. It could just be both having a point but I dunno. But with that Xavier does show kurt that even human passing mutants like Scott have huge struggles and he no longer is alone. Jean is curious what his power is and Kurt demonstrates his teleporting, impressing both and bonding the three a bit. Xavier sends them off to school, and they’ll talk more about kurt tonight. At school Toad is getting dressed down by principle darkholme, aka mistque whose apparently also his boss.. yes while the founding x-men are two upstanding well trained, if one a bit hot headed youths, Mystque got.. a guy who pick pockets because as we later see the house she got for them looks like the ghosts of the frat who used to live there did a number on the place. Yeah easy to see why your guys later become the comic relief villians Raven. Anyways she plans to have Toad use his newfound leverage with scott to try and sneak in with the x-men before shapeshifting into a knockoff brood to scare him because she’s a dick. Also how the hell would she explain that if someone walked in and DIDN’T comically walk right back out and just explose her posing as a monster for the student body to see. Not a bad show of her powers but a really goofy and nonsenical one. Also yeah unlike the comics raven can change her shape further than just humanoid.

Back at the school Kurt is excited to see his spacious and luxrious room, his parents, whoever they were, having sent him here, and is even more excited when Xavier gives him a gift; an image inducer. This is something that actually comes from the comic: it’s a device disgused as a watch that holographically makes Kurt look like your standard human. Kurt in the comics of course used it to look like errol flynn. Naturally Chris Claremont eventually realized the implications of a person of a minority who looks diffrent masquerading as someone else to blend in and Kurt later decided to go without it, as he shoudln’t have to hide himself. Evolution does use it better though: For starters when Kurt says he’s finally normal, Ororo assures him he always was, this is just to help a bit and the idea of him needing to blend in makes sense since the x-kids are going to public high school and mutantkind is more hidden to avoid prosecution. It’s sitll a BIT shaky, but it’s at least trying to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the concept and modernizie it a bit and I can give them credit for that.

Back at School scott’s preparing to lunch, telling paul to save him a seat. Good old Paul, when Toad comes up to him thanking him again and revealing his own mutant powers and stealing Scott’s glasses because that’s how you charm someone. Toad offers to hang but Scott wisely refuses and moves on though he does use the cafeteria pay phone to call Charles, who already found out about todd via Cerebro and despite Scott’s understandable reservations about letting a literally slimy pick pocket who talks like goddamn j-roc , know what i’m sayin, into the team, Charles in a very charles xavier move says they can’t turn their back on ANY mutant, even the assholes. Now read that in a patrick stewart voice. Your welcome. Scott wonders if he should ask Todd over to play fooseball and ask about joining his teen militia but Chalres said no need, he’ll take care of the audition himself. He then explains Cerebro to a curious kurt, global telepathic mutant tracker basically, and prepares for the audition.

That night Toad goes to the mansion.. with a costume already. And rather than evaluate all the costumes up front i’m going to do so as they show up in series. As such.. toad’s is REALLY good, a nice armor look with a small part peaking up resembling a collar of some sort , a nice update of his silver age costume’s collar. It really feels frog like and really is neat. Storm, who is watering her garden a detail I like, heads out and rains on his parade. Her costume is fine, a standard storm outfit, nothing really outstanding but still not bad. Storm then sends lighting at him to see what happens when a Toad is struck by lighting.. probably the same as everything else before he runs inside and runs into kurt.

Kurt then shows up, and while I’d forgottten this, he was already in costume from earlier having gotten his at the same time as the inducer. His costume.. is about the same as the comics except hte gloves and boots are yellow, i’m somehwat eh on it but I get doing so to have him fit with the black and yellow color scheme of most of the other x-men in some way. Though i’d love to see a black and yellow redesign of his classic oufit someday that’d look spiffy. But yeah it’s pretty good and one of the standouts of the evolution costumes. The two trade barbs thanks to toad being kind of a dick about nightcrawler and end up having a petty squabble and tussle for a bit around the mansion. Xavier still considers Toad x-men material while Storm considers not missing with lightning this time. In all seriousnes this is more good character stuff for Charles, as it shows that no matter how troublesome, he’ll welcome any mutant child in with open arms. Though I question why neither questions the fact that a mutant they just met somehow brought his own top of the line uniform, but I chalk it up to that probably not having been written into the episode and either being an error or execs wnating to show off his battle suit to have a proper superhero tussle to close out the episode. However said tussle, which is really more a hilarious fight between an asshole and a dork, is interupted when Kurt accidnetly ports them into the danger room, an x-men staple.. no really “new mutant accidently enters or finds the danger room” is old hat at this point, most iconically with Kitty in the comics shortly after she joined.

Naturally not wanting to have to clean up another set of teen corpses, he just got the Vulcan smell out of there, Xavier dispatches Cyclops and Jean to go deal with it.. since Jean dosen’t have a code name here since marvel forgets to try and get her a non phonenix one better than marvel girl and it annoys me. Anyways fashion show time again, and yes i’m aware these aren’t from strategy x, but I didn’t want to just use hte model sheet shots from the wiki so I combed for decent action shots. Scotty’s costume is decent, a bit bulky with the very 90′s shoulder pads and boots, but otherwise looks pretty good, a nice combination of his 90′s uniform and his second x-factor uniform. Even with the bulk it looks really good. On the oppsite end.. we have Jean, who easily has the worst outfit of the main x-men by a mile, with a weird lime green stripe for some reason. Maybe they were going for phonenix colors I dunno, but it just looks half assed in comparison to the rest of the gangs outfit. The gold rings and fingerless gloves are a nice touch, but this one’s still just bland in comparison. Like they couldn’t figure out how to update jeans 90′s outfit so they put her in a jassercise outfit instead.

Scott and Jean arrive with Jean saving nightcrawler, Kurt asking if sh’es an angel, she asking if he’s a demon and me asking if I can get a trashcan to vomit in. It didn’t work for George Lucas a year before this why did you think it’d work here? Anyways Kurt realizes their not in xavier’s snuff dungeon, as far as he knows and it’s simply a trianing room and tries to disarm it, but it instead nearly blasts toad who nopes outta htere, scott too injured to follow. And while when watching the episode yesterday It hought it was a bit abrubt.. it really fits. Toad is a bit of a coward from memory, bosatful and cocky.. till reality reminds him he’s freaking toad as seen with the bullies earlier and mystique after that. So of course he’d run the minute things looked dicey and it looked like xavier reguarlly put his students through the hunger games to thint he herd. Xavier bemoans that Toad simply isn’t ready.. sure he’s a mutant and xavier likely senses mistque’s involement.. but he genuilly WANTED to help todd and give him a real home and support.. its just Toad/Todd dosen’t WANT it or to put in any real work to be better, and you have to WANT help to get it. Kurt blames himself and ports out feeling he dosen’t deserve to be there and Scott goes after him while out front Toad runs into a returning Logan, whose ready to add another dead teen to the pile out back when Xavier insists he let him go... he’s not an actual threat, and as we find out later Xavier removed the schools location from his mind and probably gave it to toad in the first place, so while Logan says he’ll be back.. he has no way of coming back and there’s no sense roughing up a teenager, when that’d just draw more attention to them and give Toad an angle to work. That being said Charlie still gladly welcomes Logan back though both smell trouble on the horizon.. and also toad. He tends to leave a scent that one.

We then get what I feel is the best scene in the episode: Cyclops finds Kurt in the room with the blackbird, which this show remembers is an actual type of plane and that the x-mens is simply a souped up version of , though I can’t tell you what version he’s saying it’s superior to because I don’t know planes THAT well. But Scott comforts Kurt, saying it’s OKAY to fuck up: the entire point of this place is so they can afford to make the mistakes they can’t make out there and learn and grow as people. Everyone screws up, as Scott himself did rushing in without a plan at the start, but the point is you learn from it and do better next time and Kurt decides to stay. Welcome to the X-Men Kurt, hope you surivive the experince. Also Scott decides to show him where they hide the sodas.. which either Chuck is a dick about their pop or that’s code for booze.. or possibly both. I could see Logan really liking root beer alongisde his nightly 6 pack.

We close out with Mystque berating toad for running the hell away and for you know, getting mindwiped.. the latter is far from his fault, but the first part.. yeah Toad kinda sucks at this and Raven screams for him to get out, with her turning back into her natural form for the first time.. and then being confronted with HER boss with Magneto, from.. somewhere.. he appearas as a spooky projection but I don’t know if he’s using a device to amplfy himself or he just hides in the closet of her office all day for when he needs to consult her on their evil schemes. Probably the latter. Anyways Erik wisely consults her to be a bit easier..while toad is a bit of a dipweasel.. they can’t afford their ranks being thinned.. and really he’s not wrong. The x-men currently have them 6 to 3. Even if he’s the weakest of the three of them, they can’t afford to spare him. He then ominously says htis is only... THE BEGINING.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Strategy X is a decent start for the series but not without it’s problems, with one or two questionsable moments like the whole angel and devil exhcange or the entire “Storm stalks toad as he goes to the mansion” scene as a way of testing him, which makes both her and charles come off bad and makes me wonder how the hell that was an actual test of anything. But it’s held up by good character: While Jeans kind of a bit of wallpaper here, the rest of the x-men and our three villians are all given great character moments that show them off to the audience well and really show the writers get the characters while taking their own spins on the younger ones: Nightcrawler, who could be a bit of a dork in the comics, see here his seduction tequnique.

I mean damn if that shit isn’t still Sexy but still. They just ramped it up a bit since this version is younger and more naive, while Scott is likewise a bit more rambunctious and likely to question Xavier, while still being a good hearted guy who knows how to lead. It’s good stuff. While the quality isn’t PERFECT, it’s a good start and I look forward to watching more and EVENTUALLY reviewing more on here. If you liked this be sure to let me know and like I said above if there’s any other marvel show or any dc ones you want me to cover, and any specific episodes at that, lemme know. Comics too. And until we meet again, courage. PS.. what the hell is up with the title of this episode? No really it has nothing to do with anything. Is it Mystuues’ inflitration plan?

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nightmarenoise · 5 years ago

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Just comparing two cartoons I love

I understand that nobody asked in any capacity, but here I go anyway:

It feels fair to compare Ducktales 2017 to Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018), not only because they're only about a year apart and truly, what is a year, but also because they

1. Both use this style that looks like it jumped straight out of a comic book. Okay, it's mostly the solidly inked shadows, but it gives me, personally, comic-y vibes.

2. They have taken what's arguably the main characters (the triplets for DT, the Turtles for TMNT) and shaken the formula up a good bit. Were the triplets formerly indistinguishable and all had the exact same personality, interests and voice actor, they are now three entirely separate entities with different traits and appearances. And while the turtles had about one defining personality trait and looked basically the same, save for the color of their masks, Rise made them different species of turtle to justify giving them radically different designs and three-dimensional personalities. Both shows faced criticism for this decision from people who cannot deal with change. Despite this, in both cases, it just works and does so incredibly well.

3. The oldest bros wear red.

4. We have two middle bros associated with the color blue who are both voiced by Ben Schwartz.

5. Both shows have a focus on family, with Ducktales especially focusing on found family and Rise on brotherhood.

6. Anime references!

Ducktales has a larger cast overall, with a lot of different characters all interacting with each other and they all have the most pleasant voices I've ever heard in my entire life. It's all solidly animated, the style is consistent and the animation is fluid, the characters are diverse and they're all lovely in their own right, except for those who aren't. The writing is top notch. Everyone feels consistent despite the large cast and it's delightful to watch all those interesting people interact with each other in their own way. The show also handles its mystery elements and occasional action scenes incredibly well, building suspense and delivering laughs and gut punches without hesitation. They juggle different tones like a professional clown, except the true clown was us, the audience, all along, for ever having doubted them.

The overarching plot of Ducktales, for its first two seasons, was mostly to uncover the mystery of what had happened to the mother of the triplets and all that would entail. Mystery and mythical elements will likely continue to be afoot for season 3.

Rise works with less focal characters, we have the Turtles, Splinter and April as well as various bad guys, but more than makes up for it with a lot of animation. A lot a lot of animation and it's all high quality. There's usually so much going on on-screen that a watching it once isn't enough to catch it all. Despite that, it doesn't feel crowded or rushed. Lots of dynamic shots and incredibly-choreographed action scenes, but nothing the thoroughly solid writing has to hide behind. Even when the baddies aren't the main concern, they're still well-rounded, interesting characters with unique abilities and motivations. Although, most of the mutants are just really feral. Still a delightfully diverse cast.

The turtles on the other hand spent their first season trying to foil their various foes, from a yokai trying to mutate all of humanity, to his mutants, to dealing with random mythical stuff, to the nefarious Foot Clan trying to reassemble the Dark Armor in the shadows. It's generally a more action-driven show, but they still find the time for some heartfelt moments.

The triplets 2.0

Despite their conventiently color-coded caps, they were really mostly the same character possessing three different bodies at a time. Well, the times of eerie The Shining like-twins, except extended to triplets, are over!

We have Huey, the oldest brother, voiced by Danny Pudi. He's a gentle, intellectual soul who values red hats, science, scout badges and checklists. Huey is arguably the closest in characterization to the original triplets, with some additional neat freak sprinkled in for flavor. He tries to be the responsible older sibling and keep his brothers under control and out of trouble. He also seems to have the most fiery temper of the bunch and should clearly not be pressed to the breaking point. He's my personal favorite and I heard season 3 will bring more focus to him, which makes me elated to hear. 888/10.

Middle child Dewey, the blue one, voiced by Ben Schwartz, who will inevitably come for all the iconic blue characters. He's very clearly the middle one, because he craves attention and validation and occasionally dreams of being an only child. Dewey is the one who started the investigation into their mom's disappearance and kept it from his brothers, partially to save them from hurt, but also because he wanted to feel special. He's the most interested in going on adventures with their uncle, but can get reckless when doing so. He's a bit of a spotlight hog, who has his own talk show that nobody watches and sings his own theme song when he needs to get hyped up, or just to fill this silence. This may sound kind of negative, but rest assured, he's a good, sweet boy. The focal triplet for the first season. 500/10.

Louie, the evil triplet, a schemer and a conman. Voiced by Bobby Moynihan. The youngest of the bunch. While they call him evil, he's really far too lazy to cause serious harm, except for when it's his laziness that's causing him to take dangerous shortcuts, oops. He dreams of making a fortune, but without having to work for it and preferably without any responsibility either, thank you. He also occasionally dreams of being a spoiled fat cat. Despite his chill demeanor, he can be a bit of a crybaby and those tears are only fake 50% of the time. I feel like he likes getting babied, but mainly because that means there's less work for him to do. Season 2, which focuses more on him, reveals that he's actually quite brilliant, capable of seeing all the angles and giving him some chessmaster-like qualities. He needs to learn to use those abilities for good. 665/10.

Hi, she's Webbie! The honorary triplet, who also got a massive makeover, from annoying token girl tagalong to socially awkward, adorkable action girl. Be careful who you call ugly in middle school, indeed. Like a more ferocious Mabel Pines, she has a grappling hook and years of martial arts training under her belt. Webbie can absolutely decimate you, but won't, because she's a sweet girl. Voiced by Kate Micucci. She continues to like unicorns and the color pink, but assuredly in the most badass of ways. She helped Dewey with his quest to uncover the mystery of his missing mom, but works well with all of the triplets, with Huey taking her under his wing a bit and Louie trying to get her to chill out more. Webbie is a sweetheart and I would die for her, were it not completely unnecessary, since she's more than capable of taking care of herself. ∞/10.

A lot of the supporting cast also saw updates and changes, for instance Gyro being a genius without social skills and Fenton being an adorkable scientist, but again, they work really well. They're interesting new takes on beloved characters. Even the new additions to the cast are great. In short, I love me some birds and am excited for season 3, Disney, get your scheduling together.

The Turtles 2.14.2 - I upgraded my upgrade in the middle of the upgrade

Also, these guys have seen so many different iterations in their, what, 30+ years of existence. As someone with no prior attachment to the turtle brand, I don't have a lot to say here. Leo's not the leader in this one and Raph has more personality than being angry at Leo for being the leader. Donnie is not just a random nerd spouting technobabble and Mikey has more depth than yelling the catchphrase every now and again. Apparently, this made people upset. I don't know how to help you with that. The middle brothers exude some high chaotic energy and should not be left unsupervised, but the oldest and youngest seem fairly stable.

Raphael, the red-bandana'd alligator snapping turtle is an imposing figure. He's the oldest and therefore team leader by default. Raph has no reason to be upset at Leo, so he isn't. Despite his ferocious appearance, he's a soft guy, who likes teddies and doting on his brothers, but fears puppets. He's a bit of a knucklehead, most of his plans involve smashing things with his tonfa and he may refer to himself in the third person in the heat of the moment, but he possesses emotional intelligence, is open about his feelings and looks after his brothers. He is big and and strong, but his heart is bigger and stronger. He especially loves small animals animals, who don't usually return his feelings. RIP in F. This responsible guy is voiced by Omar Benson Miller. 300/10, very soft. Somehow both the heart and the big guy of the group.

Donatello has been upgraded from second-to-youngest to second-to-oldest, not that it makes much of a difference. His color of choice is purple and he continues in the character's tradition of being a nerd, although this time, with self-confidence. Donnie is very sure of himself and his abilities. As a spiny soft-shell turtle, he's less sure of his shell, but that's okay, he's made robotic battle shells to make up for it and his bō is the mother of all multitools. This guy can build you a tank out of a buggie and upgrade your animatronic into something to give the FNAF franchise a run for its money. He's the smartest of the four and when not focused on his phone, very focused on the mission. Due to having to deal with his bros, he can be exasperated a lot. Thinks of himself as an emotionally unavailable bad boy, even though he's just really sensitive and wants his dad or someone parent-aged to tell him they're proud of him. Theater kid. 999/10, give the middle child a hug and some coffee, you can't tell me he has a healthy sleep cycle. This sarcastic nerd is brought to you by Josh Brener.

Leonardo, Ben Schwartz's second blue character (Sonic (2020) being the third under his belt) and also his second ninja after Randy Cunningham. He's not the leader. He's still a good character. Leo has approximately 800 charisma and unwavering faith in both, his family and himself. Mostly himself though. Like Louie, season 2 revealed that he is a master of prediction and playing people like the cheap kazoo you can't tell me he doesn't have to play Darude's Sandstorm on. He dabs, he boards, he will pun you to death and back and he has an Odachi that can cut through space. Leo likes hogging the spotlight when given the chance and wants to be showered with attention and praise. Having four kids really only means twice the middle child nonsense. Leo is a red-eared slider, the original species of the TMNT, as I've been told. He's also the best at being a ninja, but usually too lazy to really apply himself. He's younger than Donnie, but tumblr suggested to read the two as twins, since they're approximately the same age, which sheds a whole new light on their dynamic and frankly, makes way too much sense. 420/10, for our memelord Leonardo.

Michelangelo, the eternally youngest of the bunch. An artiste, who puts stickers on himself, tags the lair, has a spiritual connection to his skateboard and the color orange. Mikey loves all things arts and craft, but he also tries his hands at cooking. He idolizes famous TV chefs and can do pretty much anything out of and into pizza. He's funny, without being annoying, like I feel a lot of other iterations of this character are. It's an easy pitfall for comic relief guys, but this one is more than that. If that's an issue, feel free to leave my house. Mikey is genuinely sweet and happy, optimistic and soft, but also the one brother who knows when it's time to take off the gloves and just get straight to the point. He's open about and in touch with his feelings. He's just baby. Don't treat him as one though. A lot of promo stuff says Leo has taken him under his wing, but he's had more episodes together with Donnie. Not that I'm complaining, they work very well together. Mikey and Raph are both the emotional centers of the group. Does not mind being yeeted after retracting into his shell, as box turtles may do. (Disclaimer, do not yeet actual box turtles!) His weapon of choice is a Kusari-Fundo that can turn into a fire-demon and is about as unpredictable as he is. Likes to jump and bounce around. Probably does parkour. Voiced by Brandon Mychal Smith who is audibly having a blast. 500/10, just an all around Kusari-fun guy.

For last, but certainly not least, April O'Neil, my girl, who saw an upgrade from flip-flopping love interest who was vaguely ninja-ing, but mostly damsel in distress-ing, to all-around spunky powerhouse and by God, she is glowing. Rise has her more as a big sister figure to the turtles, and I will not be told otherwise. She is independent and don't need no man, mutant or no. She has her teleporting pet, her faith in herself, her pinpoint baseball hitting skills and the a complete and utter lack of fear. Despite being a weirdness magnet, April is perfectly comfortable. She would like to be able to keep a job, maybe, but she has loving friends who respect and love her. Surprisingly good a ninja, fearless and fun. Occasionally thinks about being popular at school, but it's really not a big concern, she's not gonna throw a tantrum over it or anything. April is very chill. Not likely to be damseled. More likely to run after the turtles and clean up their messes or save them and everyone involved is fine with that.

The late 10's are really coming in to show us how dynamic and well-written female characters that aren't just "strong", but three-dimensional and relatable are done, huh?

An iconic performance by Kat Graham and ∞/10 for being the honorary better ninja non-mutant non-turtle and best big sister.

Here we have it, two older properties, having new life breathed into them to make them fresh and enjoyable. Have a new spin put on them, to better fit in with our current world. You can feel the love oozing out of every frame. At the end of the day, of course, it all boils down to taste and whether or not you like something. I gave Ducktales 2017 a go because a lot of the staff from Gravity Falls went to work on it and if you don't know me, I love me some Gravity Falls. It's a good show and I enjoy it. I recently got into Rise and while I don't know much about the people working on it, it is also a greatly enjoyable show, easily on the same level as Ducktales, if not above, yet with far less people speaking about it. Which is frankly saddening. I can only recommend the two of them wholeheartedly. If you love animation, yourself and occasionally feeling things, these are for you!

#ducktales 2017 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #huey duck #dewey duck #louie duck #webbie vanderquack #raphael #donatello #leonardo #michelangelo #april o'neil

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nomadicism · 5 years ago

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I read that one posts. I agree with Sol. I think it's more likely that Dreamworks crunched the numbers, figured it wouldn't be profitable and just canned the project than them cancelling it because of a very small section of the internet. p1

“p2 Mecha is just a dying genre as a whole. Even in Japan, isekai has taken it's place and there are hardly any new mechas outside of Gundam. That's in Japan! In the west, mecha is even more niche of an interest and general audiences don't gravitate towards it. I don't think that any mecha movie wouldn't do well at the box office. I'm even worried about that Gundam movie bombing at the box office.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

Yeah, I agree with Sol too—and at risk of repeating what I’ve said in other posts about the movie thing—it’s really hard to convey just how incredibly unlikely a property like Voltron or Robotech will ever be made into a live-action movie. It really is about the numbers, as it always has been. Since the 80s, there’s this whole persistent and stupid element of the cartoon industry that continues to delude itself that promises or interest from Hollywood will ever pan out. There are so many scripts sitting in production limbo, that it’s almost criminal.

No one wants to risk money on a live-action movie based on children’s media IP that won’t bring in rated PG-13 or R dollars from adults, and no one wants to risk repeating the 80s He-Man film. The exceptions are live-action films made from children’s media IP that are fully owned by the company paying to produce the movie. I’ve got more to say about the complexities of royalties, but that’s awfully long-winded when I get into it, and I’d rather be long-winded about giant robots. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

The topic of mecha genre dying out is what really interests me here. It’s a topic that I think about a lot, as the beginnings of the mecha genre had a lot of deep cultural time-and-place stuff behind it, even if the stories were just kids and teen boys hopping into a giant robot to beat up other giant robots and monsters, in what were essentially 30 minute long toy commercials.

Isekai will come-and-go as all genres do. It’s not a new genre, but right now the types of themes driving the isekai stories being made speaks to a lot of interesting things happening in the youth of Japan’s relationship with digital gaming and role-play escapism. It’s fascinating, even though the focus of the genre as it’s done today hasn’t really grabbed me in the same way that isekai of the 80s-90s did.

Mecha isekai exists, and it’s only a matter of time before someone either remakes Vision of Escaflowne, or does a more mecha-focused isekai story similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. I doubt anyone would revisit Aura Battler Dunbine, or Super Dimension Century Orguss, but an otaku can dream.

Before we can say the mecha genre is dying, let’s briefly skim over the genre trends of the past +40 years. Every decade or era of mecha anime has a trend that reflects cultural concerns built into it, in a way that I don’t think any other genre of animation can touch (until now, with Digital/Virtual/Fantasy RPG World Isekai).

Late 60s-70s was: Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

Mid-70s – early 80s was: Combining Mecha Sentai Team Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

80s was: Real Robot + “how many sci-fi/fantasy settings can we put a robot into?” + the death-throes of Super Robot (e.g. Dairugger XV, Golion, Baldios, Godmars)

Also 80s: What the hell was Super Dimension Fortress Macross about? Cold war tensions of escalating end-the-world arms race meets an alien species whose only culture is fighting. Where songs about love, and the culture of love, are what win the day, not just transforming robots and big guns. Macross is deeper than it lets on.

Fun 80s: GoShogun happened. The first parody-satire mecha anime that still feels more serious than they intended, but is actually hilarious once you get past the dated gender roles humor (which was also kind of intentional satire).

WTF 80s: Space Runaway Ideon broke everyone’s minds.

Still not done with 80s: Gunbuster happened. The first angst-driven parody-satire mecha anime that blew everyone’s minds.

Late 80s-early 90s OVA mecha was a mix of Serious Cyberpunk-influenced Real Robot for older teens and adults + Mecha with Tits & Tentacles for Adults (see also space elf lesbians).

90s was: The Franchises Will Survive With Prettier Pilots, and Super Angst-Bot That Was Way More Influenced By Drugs And Ideon’s Ending Than Anyone Wants To Admit (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion) + “Since Gunbuster was a success, how many parodies of Super Robot and Real Robot can we do?”

Mid 90s isekai gems: Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne

Late 90s: Brain-Powerd (not a typo) happened and it’s a shame no one remembers it. I’ve seen it’s influence come up in the 2000s – 2010s.

The 00s seem to be filled with a lot of re-treading of everything that came before but with different cross-genre influences and some of it really damn good but hard to remember because it all kind of blends together.

The 2010s-today: I have no idea what’s happening now b/c I can’t keep up with anything that isn’t Gundam. And why bother when there has been a flood of classic 70s-80s mecha releases—many for the first time in the US—to binge watch?

Knights of Sidonia was cool.

Since I haven’t kept up, I can’t speak to what new mecha anime is like, or why it's less popular (though I have an educated guess). It was gonna happen eventually, and I suspect that the kinds of post-nuclear and Cold War existential dread that informed mecha anime of the 60s-80s has moved on as target audiences grew up. Those lates 80s OVAs, where the stories could be more adult, reflect that growing up (and also Blade Runner’s influence).

I see the 90s as very transitional, includes reactions to the prior eras, but also reflects a lot of angst by Japanese teens and young adults caught up in the after-effects of 80s stagnation, and the constant test-studying to get into the best school to get the best job (if it exists) and figure it all out before you’re 14 so you can pick the best school to test into. Also, salary-man dad works 120 hours a week and is never home. Get in the Angst-bot Shinji.

Excluding the stand-out brands that survived their respective eras: Gundam, Macross, Braves series, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Evangelion; there’s not much other ground that can be covered right now that would warrant a series. The franchise mecha shows are grounded in their respective niches. It’s kind of odd that there isn’t an isekai mecha franchise, b/c that’s a niche that hasn’t been owned in the way that the other niches have (unless maybe Machine Hero Wataru is still a Thing?)

It’s worth mentioning that Sport Anime has really been having a moment for almost a decade now, and that’s super interesting to compare against isekai. Isekai about dungeon slimes or whatever vs literal horse-girls racing each other like high-school track. Thanks Japan, are y’all all right over there?

A few last things:

The success of Super Robot Wars tells me that mecha genre isn’t dying. Consider the ages of players. How many of them actually grew up watching Yuusha Raideen (aka Yūsha Raideen / Raideen the Brave)? There is an SRW manga anthology series, and loads of gachapon and collector’s grade mecha figures from old mecha anime get released with regularity. Someone’s buying that all that shit.

SRW is nearly 20 years old now, and they are still making video games that do one thing really well: rotate a 40 year old cast of everyone’s favorite robots into a battle strategy game held together by a duct-tape plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The games are fun, and it’s cool to put all these mecha into the same field. It’s really great to see older shows that will never be remade have little cut scenes in a newer animation style that still feels like the originals.

There’s also the old staple that started it all: the tokusatsu genre of live-action Super Sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers). They’ve been making the Super Sentai Series since 1975, and there’s still fun to be had watching color-coded warriors use special powers/tech to summon forth some combining mecha to do battle with rubber suit monsters from outer-space. The effects are much better these days, but it’s the same formula, year after year and people still love it.

So with respect to mecha, I think what’s died or dying, is that people are afraid to have shameless child-like fun with giant robots. The genre got too serious and too angsty (and too horny without the grown-up edge of 80s OVA Tits & Tentacles mecha). The franchises carved their niches and aren’t going anywhere, while the genre survives in video games and collectables.

A lot of that shameless fun has moved into other genres, because nothing else explains a title like: “Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girl’s In The Dungeon?” or the nearly-ecchi concept behind the sports anime “Keijo!!!!!”. But that kind of fun is less child-like and more self-deprecating or pervy-humor. Both sports and isekai anime have their serious side, but seem to be dominated by stories that don’t take themselves too seriously, or like Yuri on Ice, aren’t afraid to take a concept that no one ever saw coming, and shape it into a good story.

I eagerly await a mecha sports anime (wait, no, I think that already happened), and I’d love to see a knock-out isekai mecha anime again. I think it will happen eventually, but probably not from Toei or Sunrise. If Tatsunoko could get beyond Moe Idols In Space, then the Macross franchise already has everything it needs to do a isekai series. That would be rad.

#mecha #ask me anything #anonymous #i'm sorry this got long

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