eastofthemoon

*watches the clip*

...I...I just died a lot... Eew, I don't like the style at all! No way can that be Optimus Prime... More like his annoying teenage son. Ugh! Don't even tell me Transformers will now have the 'youth' plague as well. Seriously, why do they always have to update a series to make it 'hip'? I hate when they take characters and make them younger. It didn't work for The Real Ghostbusters, it made the new X-Men really annoying...how is it supposed to improve a series about robots? Man oh man...

*end rant*

I want to attend one of those concerts some day! I heard the Trees and Rocks song (coincidentally, when I was driving a visiting friend into the mountains back home) a few years ago, and it amused me so much! I have the Saskatchewan Pirate song at least, but I need to add to my library.

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I think the style of it is mainly because it's the same director that did Teen Titans. It doesn't look nearly as animeish as Teen Titans does, but still... I'm going to wait to make a full judgement until I see the first episode, but yeah...can't help but be both concerned and annoyed.

Today with remaking old cartoons, I find they either make it way too extreme and in your face, like Loonatics and Ninja Turtles, or they make it so sweet and cute it hurts to watch, like Care Bears and My Little Pony. (seriously, did they forget the original series had SOME danger and action? Those series did have actual villans. 0_0;)

I happened to be rewatching "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer" last night and while watching it I couldn't help but shudder at that thought of what they might turn Rainbow Brite into if they ever tried to remake that series. 0_0;

The concerts are fun. The "Rocks and Trees" song is on one of the CD and they always use that for a sing along. I'll make sure to post that list later so you can tell me which songs you want. ^_~

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I doubt I'll be watching the cartoon on television (who knows what I'll be up to), but I agree with

ameban on the chin design. Optimus Prime's design still makes me want to weep... The old design made them actually look somewhat tough, but the new makes them look like they could be busted easily. If the new toy line is to be based on it, I bet we will see more kids breaking their Transformers.

I hear you on the too cute factor. My brother let my nieces watch the new Strawberry Shortcake cartoon thinking it would be like as he remembered. Wrong! No villains! No Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak, no Sour Grapes...what's the point? I imagine My Little Pony is the same... He finally came home to dig through our old VHS collection to find the original Strawberry Shortcake cartoon, and I made sure to show my My Little Pony DVDs to the nieces.

I don't want to think about what they'd do to Rainbow Brite! I also loved that show as a child. Bleh, if society is going to try and convince our youth that there is no opposition/evil in the world and that things are always happy, I might not let them watch new cartoons at all. That said, I need to grab what's being released on DVD so I have something decent to show them. I need money...

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Oh...the new My Little Pony cartoon..(cringes) It hurts to watch. It literaly is so sweet it hurts my teeth and no villians in sight. This I find rather ironic considering that the frst MLP cartoon every made was rather dark at some points. (Ex: Rainbow of Darkness, villan turning some of the ponies into monsters to pull his chariot..). And don't even get me started on what they did to Care Bears, no Beastly or No Heart,..grr.

I don't know why they feel that can't have villains now. Having villians in cartoons is a good way to show kids, that not everyone is a nice person in this world and therefore you should keep your guard up. Plus, villains just make the story more interesting to watch.

I feel like the new versions are almost dumbing down, like they think a kid couldn't handle the idea of there being a bad person. (rolls eyes) The only excuse I think of them giving for these "no villains" cartoons is that they want to teach friendship, helping others and that having a villian would make it too scary... which I think is a dumb excuse. I agree you shouldn't scare kids, but you can easily make a villian that isn't too scary for them.

Plus, you can easily have a show for kids that teaches and has an actual plot with good villains. Teddy Ruxpin is a great example. He was always talking about friendship, loyalty, etc, and that show had several villains and (gasp) an actual plot. I'm REALLY hoping they never touch Rainbow Brite, I don't think I could handle watching another old cartoon favorite getting torn to shreds. 0_0

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Well heck, I was watching some episodes of the original He-Man cartoon this weekend, and Skeletor was definitely a villain. But! He-Man was really a good guy in that he was willing to help out Skeletor and his henchmen when things got dire. Even the short sayings at the end of the episodes were good, and timely reminders on how we should treat ourselves and others. I don't know if any current cartoon does that.

And that's another thing. People say Disney's animated movies are too happy and sweet, and yet, they always have villains! Andreas Deja, one of their best animators, even said that a story without a villain is very boring, and I agree. Can you imagine Aladdin without Jafar? Beauty & the Beast without Gaston? Heck, Lilo without Stitch? One doesn't have to be truly bad to be a villain, just opposed to the main character.

Man, I rant... I do love villains though. I think that's why I love Basil and Kale in

secondworld_rpg so much, because while they themselves aren't doing the "BWAHA HA!! I AM EVIL" bit, they're almost more devious in trying to befriend the heroes - only to turn against them at a later date. It excites me to think of what'll happen when that confrontation comes.

I do prefer heroes, but what is a hero without a villain?

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Exactly. How boring would the story Cinderlla be without her wicked Stepmother? Or Snow White with hers? I think Gaston has to be one of the more original Disney villains ever created (and he's fun to watch) and let's not forget Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. She has a strong fanbase and is actually probably the most popular character from that movie. As a kid, I always loved the scene when she turned into a dragon. It was just so cool.

Villians are great, especially when they're well rounded characters, who aren't really bad guys but people with good reasons and are just going about it in a different way. That's one of the reason I liked the game Tales of the Abyss so much. A lot of the main villains had good reasons for what they were doing.

And I agree, that's also why I love Kale and Basil so much. They aren't "Ha ha! I'm evil!" they're actually good people, but they have goals different from the heros and do different methods to get them done.

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That's the thing with villains. A truly good villain (and when I say good, I mean a fun character to work with, not necessarily 'good') isn't actually evil, but just opposed to the hero. Heck, in many cases, if you switch the situation around the villain is suddenly the hero, and the hero the villain. Reality really is full of greys.

And since you mentioned a video game earlier, there is a video game I loved because the villain you're opposed to for the entire game turns out to be someone who thought he was doing the right thing. I felt bad when I had to kill him... They did a sequel where a truly evil character does bring him back from the dead, and you think he's again the villain, but later he reveals that he's using his 'reprieve from death' to right the wrongs he originally did, and he does turn out to be a major good guy. That was pretty awesome, although tragic.

(I won't mention the name, should you ever get to play it.)

And speaking of rpg, I might have to plot some more with you at a later time. (I'm sitting in my last class at the moment, but I'll be heading home soon, and I have no idea if I'll have time -or internet- to be on tonight.)

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(nods) If I don't get on again tonight, I'l try to get on again tomorrow so we can plot. ^_~

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Oh, yes, the new TF series!
I don't know about Arrogant Worns, but certainly I heard about the coming TF series.... and their chin's designs of doom.
Apparentely Hasbro wanted to give the TF a new looks and they used the same studio than the new Batman series, so they enjoyed making up such crazy desings.
If you're terrified with Optimus' desing, wait to Starscream's O___oU

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What did they do to Starscream? o_O;

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Actually I haven't any screencap here right now in order to show you how is he with his new desing... But his chin is SO exagerated than he looks like some sort of stork @__@

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Ugg...I'm not sure I want to see Starscreams' if it's that bad. Why must they mess up my favorite cartoon characters?

Plus, I found out one of the new characters is going to be named "Bulkhead"....(sigh) That's a rather dumb name if you ask me. What was wrong with "Hound" or "Irohide"?

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I agree... what's up with the old desings? they were really cool and they work! I cannot see why new desings must be like that. It's like disguising a EVA mecha with TF costume. v__v
As for Starscream, he basically looks like his old self, but his chin is really exagerated; I doubt he could lower his head because the chin with crash with his body. @__@

I don't know about that Bulkhead, though. I guess it's another attempt to created "some cool new character", very much alike Hot Shot in Armada.

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I'm not sure if you've seen this, but I just found a very funny Transformers webcomic. I thought you might want to see it, if you haven't: http://www.lilformers.com/home.php

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Thank you for the link, but I knew it already. Matt uses to put his works on DA, too. I love those chibis of his in TF style, althought sometimes I don't get the plot ^_^U
Anyway, here you are a link where you can see Starscream's ned design ^^U http://kumonohanyou.deviantart.com/art/New-Starscream-65980450
Now, you can see what I meant about his exagerated chin.

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