How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 3: Cinematic Universe ideas

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays, regardless of if you celebrate it, and what you celebrate.

While this further stretches the definition of Bayformers, though at this point some people are probably just looking at the title of the post, thinking I'm insane and moving on... They're partially right, at least for that insane part. This post looks more at story ideas that could work well for in a Live Action aesthetic, and tweaks that could be made to bring them to the big screen. It'll be going through the Generations one at a time, so with that out of the way.

Generation 1 and Generation 2 (I'm lumping them together): Let's piss off a lot of fans right away, I don't think there's much worth bringing from G1, at least from the show. The problem is that the show was so ingrained in the 80's kids show design mentality that not much of it would work well without having to do massive rewrites to the point where it might be the stories in name only. Take Dark of The Moon which is basically the space bridge arc from the show (I want to say the Season 1 finale based off what I remember off the top of my head, but I could be wrong). If anything, I think the Season 4 episodes (all three of them) would be worth bringing over as I think it could be interesting to do the Nebulos story around the Headmasters and Targetmasters. It could even borrow elements from the Japanese exclusive cartoons to have a mini-series of stories. In terms of the comics though, I think more could come from them, such as Bludgeon, Jihaxus, the Underbay saga (heck for fun I'd like to see them do Ratbat's evil carwash). I will admit that I don't know too much about the G1 and G2 comics (both Marvel US and Marvel UK) as I haven't looked into older comics from most lines (the exception being the old Archie Sonic comics).

Beast Wars: Beast Wars is something that I think could be really interesting to do, just due to the nature of the beasts. There are lots of different ways I could see it brought in. It could be brought in with the Time Travel gimmick of the show, and maybe have that be the justification of the legends of monsters, akin to how the Predacons from Transformers Prime were the reason the legends of Dragons exist in the show. I think it would be funny that the reason the legend of Big Foot exists is Optimus Primal. Another way I could see it is to borrow an element of Cybertron, and have the stories be on the Jungle Planet, turning it into a place for all the Beastformer Transformers. Imagine Cybertron Scourge being aligned with the Beast Wars Predacons as an example. Another way I could also see it happening is if it was brought to Earth in the modern day, adding elements of RID 2001 and maybe doing some actual monster movies with Transformers, rather then the pseudo monster movies the real movies have been so far. This could also be used as an excuse to do Beast Wars versions of other Transformers, such as Starscream as that Basilisk concept from The Last Knight. Beast Machines could also be brought into the story, with the Vehicons being an experiment made by the Predacons to bolster their army, eventually leading to the Transmetal technology.

Beast Machines and RID 2001: See above, I haven't got any ideas for them solo. What I will say though about RID 2001 is that the concept of it (and Rescue Bots), Autobots being common knowledge and don't have to hide in order to save people, can just be a side part of a story once the set up for it is ready.

Armada: With the main exception of the weapon Mini-Cons, I could see most of the Mini-Cons being something more like a commercial product in a Live action universe, the new version of small vehicles like bikes, scooters etc. Some could be used to add versatility to the Transformers akin to the PS2 game, and the Decepticons could be weaponizing the technology. It could even be used for things like the Apex Armour being a Mini-Con weapon.

Energon: The collection of Energon story would only work once (as evident by the fact that Energon is one of the worse entries in the franchise, and it did the "collect Energon to power Unicron" twice. However, turning Prime's Combination Spark into a power of the Enigma of Combination could be good for stories, just as long as they remember who can combine with who. It would be good for keeping things fresh in combat without needing to rely on 5-6 bot combiners, as they could have any of the two bot combiners from the trilogy, or even 3 bot combiners like Rail Racer. Some Autobots and Decepticons could even have "power armor modes", such as Energon Landmine and Bulk Head, or to use the one G1 fans know, Powermaster Prime.

Cybertron: I can easily see the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys being a multi film arc, though with one big change. I would keep the Jungle Planet, Velocitron and Gigantion planet keys where they are, but move Earth's key to Caminus, if not tying the planet keys to the Titans, so that there are 13 Planet keys, each with a power either tied to the Titan, or tied to the planet. Such as a key from Necrotitan allowing for resurection of the dead, or the Gigantion key able to make things grow or shrink. Combined with the Omega Lock, the keys would give an ultimate power to anyone who weilded the weapon. If anyone is wondering, yes this is inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems.

Animated: While in terms of story ideas, there's not much I'd take from Animated. I would however take characters, such as Blitzwing's split personalities, Lugnut, Lockdown and Sari. Bulk Head would be a combo of his Prime and Energon incarnations.

IDW: A lot of stories from IDW I'd like to see in the Live action style, such as Last Stand of the Wreckers (as teased in the first post) and Dark Cybertron. In terms of characters, the Decepticon Justice Division would make for a great series of villains for a story, and remember that arc based on the Omega Lock I mentioned before? Well, I'd personally do that story not with Megatron as the villain, but Nova Prime, with the goal to use the Lock to make him stronger then a god, using the Dead Universe as his personal prison. To those wondering why I didn't bring up Dreamwave, well its the same as the Marvel comics.

Prime: I've got nothing more to add from Prime that hasn't been addressed in other paragraphs. It would be cool for the Decepticons to use the Nemesis as an aerial base in a story, and I would use that incarnation of Shockwave for stories as it could be cool if he was the one that opened a gate to a Live Action Shattered Glass universe, or was the one who freed Nova Prime from the Dead Universe.

RID 2015: Mainly as a side story at first, though maybe as a main story later, the idea of an Autobot team trying to capture Decepticons would be a nice idea. Maybe lead by Sentinel Prime who in this timeline would be an Autobot enforcer, capturing Decepticons causing trouble for other planets. It could be a way to use the DJD for a main story, as both see the other as getting in their way.

War For Cybertron/ Fall of Cybertron: Aside from acting as a good base for the stories of the war, one idea that I admit I'm tweaking from a post I saw on Facebook (If you read this sir and want your work shared, please let me know and I will edit this page), based around the idea of two seperate Autobot factions. Optimus's faction, and while the original had Ultra Magnus as the more war driven leader, I'd rather use Zeta Prime, who would survive the war, but would see both the Decepticons and Optimus's Autobots as an enemy, leading to an Autobot v Autobot battle.

Ok. I think I've the general points covered now. If anyone would like to see a full pitch for any of these ideas, let me know and I'll come back to this topic. For now though, the year is almost done, plans are underway to do a Podcast looking back on 2017, but if that doesn't happen next week, then I'll be starting a new marathon. Not on robots, but of another franchise I was into as a kid, but didn't stick with me. Keep an eye out for either the 2017 Podcast, or the start of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles marathon with the 8

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 2: A clean slate

Encase you missed last week's post, you can find it here: https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/how-would-i-fix-live-action.html

Very quickly, before beginning, while I will not go into spoilers, I have seen The Last Jedi and my personal views around the controversies it has been causing in the Star Wars community is really petty. Looking at the larger picture, I'm personally fine with the issues people have with it after a single view and thinking back on it. That view might change when I go to review it though, which I'll try to do as soon as the DVD gets released.

While it is all well and good to try and fix, course correct, take something into a new direction and more, many people believe that Bayformers is something irredeemable. While I stand by my choice of releasing the post talking about how I'd start to handle it going forward, there's also the flip side of "what if I could give it a clean slate? What if I was in control from the beginning?".

For the sake of a challenge, I'm limiting myself to the movie release schedules of the actual movies, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2017. As such, I am only using characters and ideas that existed around those times. Original ideas are still fair game, but I can't add in a character like Victorion into Movie 1, she didn't even exist yet. The thing to remember about this though is that hindsight is 20/20, and I am looking at this with the knowledge of the five movies, so these ideas wouldn't be the same as if I was coming at it without that knowledge. And like with the last post, I am keeping in mind that these are for mass audiences, but I still hold to my rule of "if there is an audience for it, its there for a reason, and it'll be your free advertisement", so there will naturally be a combination and balance of the two audiences. Also, like with the last post, this is being done with the visual style of Live action/ CGI (even though I prefer animation). Also I'm using the poster/ DVD art for the actual movies as placeholder images, just to help break up the wall of text.  With those out of the way:

How Would I Fix: Live Action Transformers Movies (Bayformers) Part 1: The current path

If you'll allow me, I want to take a small break from reviews for a few weeks, not to go on leave again, but to write down something that has been clawing at my mind for some time. It should probably not come as a shock to anyone who's been here for a while, I am a Transformers fan. I've watched all the shows (including the Machinima stuff everyone hates, those are for another time), read some of the comics (before I get hate from that, comic books in general are something I've been trying to get myself into), seen the movies, been collecting the toys recently and used to collect them when I was a kid. If there was one franchise that defined my childhood... it would probably be Lego, then Pokemon, and then Transformers though mostly because when I was growing up I was really into robots and machines, its why Thunderbirds also makes that list. However, its pretty safe to say that the live action movies have not gotten a good reputation both in the fandom, and in the film analysis community, with general audiences overall not caring about the details. It's a shame because, like many, I know the IP has potential. As to what kind of potential, well that's something I'd like to test for myself (heck I need to use some of that self taught game design knowledge for something other then a DMCA waiting to happen as a thing for fun).

Inspired by Movie Bob's series, which in turn was inspired by the Whatculture team (almost certain that's right, correct me if I'm wrong), I'm going to try my hand at a "How would I fix" series. What comes out of it going forward? I'm not sure, it'll really depend on any feedback I get from this. At the moment, this is planned for three parts:

• Part 1: How would I handle this series in its current state (if I was, for some reason, brought on to direct Transformers 6 and 7, yes this part is two movies)
• Part 2: How would I have handled it if I was in charge from the beginning/ how would I reboot it (ignore the fact that when movie 1 came out in cinemas, I was 11)
• Part 3: Movie ideas that would work in either timeline

While this is going to come into play more next week, I will set one ground rule, while creating new ideas is on the table, if an idea is being borrowed from the source material, it has to have existed at the time (for example, no Windblade in Movie 1). What is however in play is visual style. These are being designed with Live Action and Live Action CGI in mind, none of these would be fully animated, though considering the subject matters later on, there might need to be a lot of Live Action CGI. With that out of the way, let's begin.

So with this following on from The Last Knight, let's first establish what is in play, and who can be in play. The last movie teased that Unicron would play a big role in the movie, which means that by the end of this post, Unicron has to have been dealt with in some form. A lot of major Decepticons are dead, though thankfully there's still room to grow. For this though, I am assuming that all the Autobots in The Last Knight survived, because to be honest I don't care enough to rewatch that movie to find out, and that the only two survivors on the Decepticons were Megatron and Barricade. To get the ball rolling, every movie needs a plot, and what I've come up with is as follows.

Earth is right now in a state of chaos. Government bodies have stood down their Anti-Transformer policies and defense divisions due to the looming nature of what is below their feet. With the cities in chaos, the Autobots have begun preparations for a planetary evacuation, using their technology to rapidly increase the nations' individual space programs. With the assistance of the Knights of Cybertron, Cade, Viviane and Cogman believe they may have found structures on Cybertron that could have survived the chaos the planet has gone through in recent years, and have traveled to the dead planet to look for them.

Meanwhile, on a defensive front, Optimus Prime and Megatron have agreed to unite their forces, including recent arrivals to Earth, to counter the threat. Taking a team made up of the strongest Autobots and Decepticons available to them, Optimus Prime and Megatron travel to the planet's core to try and stop Unicron from awakening. Before departure though, Megatron orders a Decepticon flier to travel with Barricade to the old Decepticon base on Mars and prepare it for the fight should they fail (something we won't see until the post credits of the movie).

The idea for movie 6 is to give more of a build up to Unicron's arrival, adding weight to it by showing how unprepaied everyone was, splitting the teams up to each prepare for the chaos. But, I hear you ask, what are those teams? Well:

• Team to Cybertron: Cade, Viviane, Cogman, Bumblebee, Drift, Hound and Crosshairs. Their goal, to awaken the dormant Cybertronian cities, the Titans, along with any usable ships, to help with evacuation and (eventually), heavy fire power against Unicron
• Team on Earth: Perceptor, Hot Spot, Blades, Streetwise, Rook, First Aid, along with several, unnamed Transformers. Tasked with the evacuation of the continents
• Team in the core: Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, Megatron, Silverbolt and the Arialbots (which would be unnamed in this movie), Motormaster and the Stunticons (which would be unnamed), Six Shot, Quick Switch and Springer. Tasked with trying to stop Unicron from awakening, and would be fighting constructs of Unicron the further they traveled
• Team on Mars: Skywarp and Barricade: Tasked with reactivating the ship, which is in reality Trypticon. Yes, the post credits scene is dedicated to awakening the first Decepticon Titan (that anyone actually cares about).

Now transformers fans would know I named three combiner teams there, the Aerialbots, the Stunticons, and the Protectorbots, and yes its because some of those are going where you think they're going. Superion and Menasor would form in this movie, though I wouldn't form Defensor, simply due to the nature of the missions. Granted this is very Autobot heavy, mostly due to the fact that its almost a given there will be Decepticon drones of some form, a lot of the Decepticons I had in mind for this would work better later on, so expect some of those stories in movie 3. As for the Dinobots, sadly to many, the movies don't care enough about them which is why I've ignored them here. However, doing some research, I have something in mind related to them for part 3.

So, onto Movie 7. With the assumption that the events of Last Knight and Movie 6 have happened several months apart, and Movie 7 directly following on from Movie 6, the transformers have managed to evacuate the human population from Earth. I know that sounds like several leaps in logic, but I have to ask you, has anything in these movies made any logical sense? At least this one you could use the arguement of the Governments actually doing something with all that Transformer knowledge accumulated over a decade and a bit. Moving on, the humans are on Mars, Metroplex, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon, each in their battle modes, have moved into position outside of Earth's orbit. Cade, Viviane, Cogman, Bumblebee, Drift, Hound and Crosshairs. are onboard Metroplex alongside Six Gun, Slammer, Scamper, a small team of Autobots tasked with the protection of Metroplex. Onboard Fortress Maximus is the Earth Evacuation team along with Cerebros and Cog, two (though secretly four) Autobots tasked with the protection of Fortress Maximus. Skywarp and Barricade pilot Trypticon along with Wipe-Out, Full-Tilt, Necro (who wouldn't be a headmaster this time) and Brunt, who were the guards of the Decepticon Base, due to the fact that it was still making Protoforms.

As for the team in the planet's core, they are currently trapped inside Unicron and must find four ancient Cybertronian Weapons inside of it as it is transforming. Yes, the reason why I held him back, is because I want to do something I doubt the movies will actually do, and transform Unicron into his robot mode. As for the weapons they need to find, because I personally need to squeeze some post G1 in here somewhere, the Energon Saber and Chaos Saber (I want to save the name Star Saber for, we Star Saber), the Requium Blaster, and the Skyboom shield, four weapons said to have been placed onto Unicron by Primus should he ever be awakened again, though due to the transformation, are now inside him. From there the movie becomes one half space battle, one half land battle/ Scavenger Hunt as the Autobots and Decepticons battle to defeat Unicron. The day is eventually won, Unicron's body returns to planet mode as his spark is believed destroyed. The reconstruction begins once the humans return to the planet, now having to remake the world due to the changes caused from Unicron (I'm leaning towards continent mass changing in some way), the weapons break to reveal themselves as Mini Cons before scattering themselves to the universe. Credits roll, mid credits scene, Fortress Maximus and Metroplex are in city form acting as a centralized point to help with the rebuilding efforts. Some Autobots depart earth now that the mission is done to return to tasks they were doing before, including Springer and Perceptor, who say they are gathering a team to handle a situation on Garrus-9 (hint hint for part 3). Post credits scene: Unicron's spark finds its way to a dead planet, fusing itself with it, the planet begins to cyberform into a far more familiar planet look. Drained of Energon, the new planet breaks free of its orbit, and begins to travel the universe for planets to feed on.

While I'm not one for handling casting, as that would depend on what happens to the pitch, those would be the story ideas I'd put forward as a semi course correction, and better set up other movies going forward. For next week, we go back in time to see what I'd have done if I was in charge from day 1.

Opinion Piece: Power of the Primes

So, with Titans Return winding down, Hasbro looks to the future with its follow up, and the conclusion to the Prime Wars Trilogy with Power of the Primes. After it's official unveil at San Diego Comic Con recently, I've been thinking over the news and leaks that have come from it, and would like to voice my views on the new line.

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So first of all, I should state that I have been enjoying Titans Return overall. While some of the figures have been pretty "meh", a lot more have been really entertaining moulds to mess around with. While I do get where some people are coming from, in that it doesn't make the Headmasters from G1 feel as special anymore, and I personally would have liked some of the newer headmasters get the CHUG treatment over some in the line *cough* Sideways *cough* Overload *cough*. I have enjoyed the fact that it’s given some characters new chances at life, some who haven't been seen in years, even decades. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I've had with the line is availability here in Australia. US readers, I hope you like your Wave 5, it’s not going to be seen here until September at the earliest. On top of the US Exclusives like Chaos on Velocitron and Siege on Cybertron, and you have people like me wishing they could get a complete Titans Return set, knowing they may never will. Another issue I've had with the line is a more personal issue. I hate stickers. I hate Sticker details. I can live with them to an extent, if the design is more complicated then basic paint can do, but later on into the line, all the voyagers and leaders started using these foil stickers for everything more complicated then paint and it gets frustrating to see them peel off due to the quality of them. What makes it worse is that they do them for the insignias of the characters too, and I know they've got all sizes of Autobot and Decepticon tampographs they can apply, so to see them as stickers makes them look cheap. I know some people like them, as it is better than no details at all. But there are some characters like Broadside and Megatron which would have benefited with paint and tampographs over stickers. Silver doesn't work on grey plastic.

So, with that out of the way, let me go into Power of the Primes. Starting with its announcement, and I was pretty underwhelmed by it honestly. So, the new gimmick is Powermasters... which does lead to why Powermaster Prime and Overlord were in Titans Return, but that's beside the point. Contained in the new replacement for Titan Master class sets, Prime Masters can be combined with Deluxe, Voyager and Leader class characters to power them up, or used as a weapon in their pretender shells. Prime Masters themselves are retools of Titan Masters, and with the announcements so far, what's confirmed. It feels like a pretty average opening wave.

For the Prime Masters, we have Liege Maximo, which comes with the Skullgrin pretender suit. Doing some research into Pretenders, the first thing that comes to mind is "what's going to fill out the line?", there are thirteen primes, and I think the SDCC panel said there would only be 12 in PotP, but I could be wrong. To compare that to Titans Return, the Titan Masters were at bot 12 by wave 3. If my predictions are correct, there are going to be 6 waves of both Titans Return and probably Power of the Primes, and there are more pretenders, 33 not counting Classic Pretenders and Japan exclusives. Who's going to make the cut? Are we getting normal Powermasters too?

Moving onto the Legends class, and the way they sold this, it makes it sound like they're characters they couldn't fit into Titans Return, because the way they interact with Prime Masters is exactly the same as how most Legends class bots interacted with Titan Masters, riding in the vehicle modes. Not to insult Beachcomber fans, but the initial push for me wasn't there for me. The other thing for me is that we seem to be getting a lot of Autobot Legends class characters lately, and while I don't know if was like that in G1, from my perspective I'd like to see some more decepticon legends class characters.

On to Deluxe, and this is where things get a bit more interesting. Three characters were revealed officially, Jazz, Dreadwind and Darkwing. Jazz I'm honestly surprised wasn't in Prime Wars sooner, just due to the nature of the character, but Dreadwind and Darkwing have my interest. While yes, they do use Combiner Wars parts (hello Galvatronus limbs), they also do have a vehicle combined mode like their original toys to create Dreadwing. I personally enjoy gimmickformers depending on how the gimmick is implemented, its why I enjoy the Cybertron line, so something like this is more interesting for me as it adds some more originality to the line, makes them feel more unique. I admit I'm hesitant to see the execution of the Prime Master gimmick in this and the voyager class, because I can see things going badly depending on the execution.

Onto the Voyager announced, and this almost killed my interest. Starscream. I have mixed feelings about Starscream, it really depends on how he's written, but in terms of toys. Starscream often comes with the promise of the Seekers. Skywarp and Thundercracker at least, cone heads maybe, the "Something Storm" ones if they're reaching hard, so when I see a Starscream, my first thought is "Oh Primus we're going to have waves of just that mould as voyagers aren't we?". Also, can we please pull back on sticker details?!

Last, but not least, the confirmed Leader class characters. Rodimus Prime, and Optimus Primal. While we haven't seen Primal, we have seen Rodimus and Rodimus does make up for Starscream (before leaks). The fact that this is the first Rodimus that lets you turn Hot Rod into Rodimus without trailer kibble. That genuinely excites me, and the figure itself looks great. He's one I definitely want to get.

Overall, the official announcement was mediocre for me. But, what did get my interest in the line was the leaks. Now, I'm not going to post the images of the leaks here, as I'd rather not risk Hasbro wanting me to take this post down, as I'm pretty sure they're image hunting them. I do encourage you look around for them though if you want to see what they look like.

According to the leaks, incoming characters include (and if these names are wrong, they are phone camera captures of a computer screen, I am trying here):

Prime Masters (I can't see some of their pretender shells..): Micronus Prime, Vector Prime and Metalhawk, Alchemist Prime, Alpha Trion, Quintus Prime and Bludgeon, Megatronus and Bomb Burst, Solus Prime and Octopunch

Legends: Slash, Windcharger, Skrapnel Rerelease, Battleclash?, three that I can't see the names for, Cindersaur

Deluxe: Slug, Swoop, Snarl, Sludge, Rippersnapper, Moonracer, Cutthroat, Blot, Simmertwin Novastar,

Voyager: Grimlock, Hun-Gurr, Elita-1, Inferno, a Grimlock repaint, Predacons (to make Predaking)

Leader: Optimus Prime, Rodimus Unicronus (Rodimus Prime Repaint), an Optimus Prime rerelease?, Optimus Primal, a Rodimus Prime rerelease?

Now, there's a lot to unpack here, and many wouldn't recognise the names, so... The Prime Masters are going to be who you expect, their pretender shells though, not so much. Not much to say on Legends due to the quality of the picture, we're getting G1 Dinobots in Deluxe and Voyager scale, Predaking and Abominus incoming, lots more fembots, with Moonracer and Novastar getting toys for the first time ever, and Leader Class is looking to get really old, really fast, and is the one thing about this leak I'm hoping is fake. 3 waves in a row of Rodimus Prime? I like the look of the mould, I don't like it that much, especially since there are other characters who deserve the CHUG Treatment. Overall though, this leak was what got me excited for the upcoming line, because of the new characters, that don't get a lot of toy treatment, if at all. Again, my only issue is the leaders.

While the leaks have given me more interest in the line overall, what really interests me is what could be coming. The main ones for me being Leader Star Saber and Deathsaurus. The other Powermasters like Doubledealer, Joyride and Slapdash? Some characters that were Japan exclusives? Something that justifies the S in Generations that isn't G1 related? There's a lot of possibilities here that I hope gives the Prime Wars Trilogy a strong note to end on. One way to find out, maybe some of the leaks will be shown off in Hascon (I'll admit that Titans Return Arcee looks really nice). Anyway, see you in the next review.

Opinion Piece (?): Star Wars solo film ideas

The misadventures of Happy Home Designer, will return next week, as I want to do this post, and I don't post on a Saturday anymore.

With the financial success of Rogue One, that means we're getting even more solo movies based in the Star Wars universe. But, who could be good characters to hold up an entire movie? Well, while I don't know much about Legends, I know quite a few characters, both in cannon and in legends, that could make for some interesting movies. Care to find out who?

I should note, while these are numbered, they aren't in an order of "who I want to see more". Like I said, this is an ideas post, to see if anyone else is interested. None of these are fleshed out, as they all focus on a general idea you could do for a story with these characters.

How I'd "fix": Lego Dimensions

Well, fixed is being used loosely here.

With talk on Dimensions ceasing production, and counter talk saying that it isn't, I'd like to go back to it to talk about things I'd like to see done if they do go for a "Dimensions 2". This is not meant to be me saying I could do the job better, far from it. These are more ideas that, if I was a part of the development team for whatever reason, what I would suggest.

1. Drop the Toys to Life model
   
   This is a no brainer, due to me personally thinking its the main thing holding Dimensions back. I know it sounds weird but hear me out. One thing that the team cannot do, or at least try not to do, is sell power. Most of the power ups you can get from the packs are cosmetic upgrades that do fit the worlds they come from, but have little practical use. There are some that are useful, like a stud magnet, cheaper upgrades, ect. But for everyone of those, there's two more that are "replace music with *x*", "give all vehicles *y*" "wear dino hats". Every Lego game has upgrades like that, but they are balanced out with things like extra stud multipliers, invincibility, and others that have more use to them, help with the pacing of the game, something that Dimensions can't really do because the way to get red bricks are bared off unless you have characters that can get to the Adventure worlds they're from. On top of that, there are characters which are required to get collectables that you could be waiting months to get. Raven's one I know about in Year 2 as you can't complete the Adventure Time level without her, Gamer Kid had 50 arcade games you could only start getting late into Year 1, and unless you have Supergirl, you're not completing the Sonic Level. Just to name a few. None of these would be a problem in a normal Lego Game, as then the only thing blocking off your progression is the amount of studs you had, whereas the way its going with Dimensions as it is, if you needed a character, you're probably paying $25-$80 (that's based on brick and mortar stores in Australian dollars for the record), which on top of the $180 for the starter pack, will not help get customers, especially when the audience you target relies of their parents to buy it for them.
2. Give us a reason to use these vehicles
   
   To those who haven't played Dimensions. around 90-95% of the vehicles and vehicle upgrades... are completely useless and really only exist to make an attempt to justify the price tag of the sets (which they suck at for the record). With the exception of some specific vehicles for the occasional secret area and puzzle, you have no reason to use the vehicles. Boats and submarines are only used in adventure words, which is negated by characters who can swim, which you'd probably find out before you got a submarine. Planes are really only used for lifting specific items onto switches, as there are characters who can fly on their own and fly faster, and cars, while the most useful, still aren't often used unless you want to move faster, in which case you're probably flying. Gadgets are the ones that get the most use along with special vehicles, things like the Ghost trap, Arcade machine, TARDIS, DeLorian, ect, but like the cars, are the most situational. Combined with all the vehicles sharing the same stats depending on what kind of vehicle they are, and you get the 90-95% useless number (roughly). I'd like to see vehicles get more use, levels built around using them, give me reasons for having these. I admit the Lego games have had a lot of issues with useless vehicles, but in other games they did have reasons for you to use them, levels that had you play as them, or puzzles that required a vehicle to be built and used to move on. Rather then "Use a vehicle of your choice to use this dash panel you could fly over" "Use one to lift this box" "Use one to charge up this machine".
3. Real Lego sets based on the game
   
   What do I mean by that? Well, I'd like to see sets based on the idea, even if its just a series of collectable minifigs. Most people who buy the sets, buy them for the characters, especially ones like the Twelfth Doctor, Chell, Sonic, Mr T, and other characters who haven't been minifigs before. There is a market for these characters as minifigs, and if they were turned into sets based on their franchises or from the game itself, that would be even better. Doing this and taking away the Toys to Life aspect would cut the games cost in half, so that the people who want the game can get the game, those who want the sets can get the sets, and those who want both can throw their money away now. Everyone wins!
4. Keep the Portal
   
   I know that might sound crazy, seeing as before I did say to drop Toys to Life. But I will admit that the Portal is a interesting mechanic, and has led to some interesting puzzles. It could even be something like a phone app that connects to the game which would let you do the puzzles, control characters to go to specific areas to do some sort of Rube Goldberg like puzzle, or even take something from Lego Star Wars 3 and have a way to control units of soldiers on a battlefield. You could even connect it to the physical sets, like they do with the Nexo Knights sets, and have a way to scan codes to unlock things like costumes (not characters, not power). There is an idea here for controlling parts of the game with something other then a standard controller that I'd love to see more games take use of, we have the technology for this, and its a safe bet everyone who'd get the game would have access to a phone or tablet.
5. Better navigation in adventure worlds
   
   I hate navigating the adventure worlds, I really do. It's slow, easy to get lost, especially in the year 2 worlds, and the tools you have for navigating it just makes it a chore. There are ways it could be fixed. Things like the radar showing some signs of world geography rather then a blank circle with icons giving a rough idea where things are, the ghost studs from previous Lego games (if you choose) to point to the closest collectable to where you are, a way to bring up some sort of map of the world. Games have been designing ways of navigating open worlds since the 80's, we have a good idea on how to be a gentle guide if the player wants, and there are far better ways then "Look at all the arrows clogging up your HUD, there they are, go find them".
6. Less of the old, more of the new
   
   I'm going to probably shoot down a lot of older readers nostalgia here with this. But Dimensions needed more characters that kids of this day and age would know better. There are some that are timeless, like the DC superheroes, and a lot of the Lego IP's in the game helped a lot. But, most children, and I say most intentionally so please don't spam me with "but my kid does", are not going to care about things like The Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings (though that ones more debatable), Back to the Future, Portal 2, the original Ghostbusters, Doctor Who, Mission Impossible, The A-Team, Gremlins, E.T, Knight Rider, The Goonies and Beetlejuice. Like it or not, those are aimed at older players, the parents and older siblings. Before anyone says it, no, there is nothing wrong with them being in the game, see before about the minifigs. What I will say was that there needed to be more IP's in the game that targeted children with things they're growing up with, the IP's you can find on TV and in movies right now. Because those would have been what kids would have begged their parents to get, because they knew them. Parents would see the sets from their childhoods, maybe getting them too and congratulations, they just got more money.
7. Lego Engine 2.0
   
   The game engine they're using for these games is showing its age. The games are becoming stale, in game visuals look like they haven't improved, and are aging badly. Their cutscenes are looking better then the games they come from, and showing that they're pre rendered and not done in game. Its time for an upgrade. We have more power then ever in consoles and PC's, yet the games still look like my old PS2 could run them. I'm not saying they need to look rediculous. But lighting and shading could be improved, more detail to the minifigs to make them look more like actual Lego. Basically, take the Lego movie and Lego Batman movie, give the minifigs more articulation points, and that should be what they look like now, but they don't. Heck I'd settle for Lego Worlds in terms of where we should be at visually. It can be done people. I'm even willing to trade off compatibility with the last generation of hardware to do it, even if it means I wouldn't be able to play them yet. It is something that needs to happen.
   
8. Time to go Digital
   
   Before you read on, note that I'm very much on the camp of local multiplayer. But even I admit that, if we can, we should have both. And this also came from a Facebook group I'm a part of related to Dimensions, so thank you to that person for the idea.  Dimensions does have online multiplayer in terms of the Battle Arenas, but at this point, its probably time for some online co-op multiplayer. Just can we please still have local? I know you want to only have one WB but please can we have both?

 I have been working on an updated version of  a character roster, building on what Year 1 and 2 have done, its still some time away as before I publish it, I'd like to give powers to the characters and maybe, if I can get the time to dig into Stud.IO, make mock ups of what they could look like based on currently existing pieces. It's taking longer then I expected, due to brainstorming ideas, and the site content schedule going from weekly to daily. Hopefully I can get it soon though as its something I really want to get out, I'm not really happy with how the first one turned out as it was rushed, its was mostly still my personal work notes. See you on Wednesday for the opening impressions on Ducktales.

Opinion piece: Fan projects, and take downs

Recently two fan projects have come out and quickly been taken down. Another Metroid 2 Remake, and Pokemon Uranium version. While I wasn't able to get Metroid 2 before it got taken down, though versions are still available online, I do have Uranium's install. But them being taken down does raise a question, should they have been taken down?

Legally, yes. Nintendo was well in their rights to do it and to them, they have to. The games do infringe on copyright, using their IP's without their permission. Companies do still have to protect their IP's because if they have to take down things that do put them in a negative light, they would have a stronger case because letting them thrive, the defendant can just go "well if they can get away with it then why can't I?" More often then not, these kinds of projects fly under the radar of the companies and if they do find them, and they're getting a lot of traffic, then they tend to ignore them, claim they had no idea they were a thing. Case in point using one that I've covered here, Pokemon Zeta looks to still be around, just that development has ceased for their current project, Pokemon Insurgence. It raises the question "Why would they?" as the same thing applies to fan animations, fan art, song remixes, mods and more. Well, with a few odd exceptions on the more darker side of the internet, it's free promotion material, so they only get involved when it gets enough public attention. For Nintendo, it seems to be the highly publicised fan games, but there are other examples of it from other companies.

Is it the only option? Not always. For every AM2R and Super Mario 64 HD Remaster, there are cases like Mega Man x Street Fighter, a game Capcom endorsed and promoted. One option Nintendo could do is come to these fans and say "if you let us take a large chunk of the sales for royalties and no PC version, we'll put your game onto our eshop", it would be free money to them along with a way of finding fresh tallent that could handle smaller projects. Its also a potential way to help with release dry spells like what's happening for the WiiU where the next and potentially last pure WiiU game is Paper Mario Colour Splash. While yes, the devs of the games would potentially be getting screwed over in terms of money, at the same time though most of them are making these kinds of games on a budget of nothing and putting them out for nothing, so to them, some money is better then no money. And in the case of quality control, Nintendo could easy say "if your game doesn't meet our expectations, we'll send a cease and desist" wading out the cheep cash grabs from the quality projects. Is it flawless? No, but at least it's better then "Anything that is not made by us is not allowed to exist".

At the same time, for projects like Uranium, what might be a better idea is to turn it into its own franchise, akin to something like Freedom Planet was to the Sonic Franchise. All they'd have to do is remove the connections to Pokemon like calling them Pokemon, changing Pokeballs to something else, and removing any main series Pokemon that are in teh game if any exist. I think all the assets in it, from what I've seen, are original aside from things like Pokeballs, so the changes would be minimal. This also lets them put the game onto Steam, and get some money for their efforts because legally, its not a Pokemon game. Its how third party transformers are still allowed to be a thing because legally, they aren't those characters.

It's a legal grey area, and there's no right answer, so the question becomes "what do you think is the better idea?"

Opinion Piece: White Washing (or an other type of media washing for that matter)

Ho boy, the political views just keep on coming don't they? This one's gotten attention lately, so lets address it. For this particular one (well, actually every post I write on this site, it is an unspoken rule after all), this is my opinion on the matter. You can agree or disagree, and if you think I'm wrong, I'm happy to hear why, provided its longer then "You're wrong idiot".

So, the idea of White washing. In basic terms, its casting a white person in a role that is normally intended for another race. Now in a moral black and white world, I would agree with the masses. But, we don't live in that kind of world, we live in this one, where the colour grey exists. So allow me dear reader to go into my views on the matter not just for film, but for every visual medium I review.

For Live action films, my general rule is that whenever you can, cast an actor of as close to a background as you can for the role. So for a (in general terms) asian character, cast an asian actor. The only exceptions I can think of for this are if you need to change it for political reasons (like with Doctor Strange, which yes, is a racist reason, but not the one most people latched onto) or if an actor just fits the role so well, that no one else could do it better. To use a recent one, Director Fury. Unless you were really into comics before the MCU, most people would think that Nick Fury was always a black character. In reality, he was originally a white character. Marvel changed it to black in the comics while they were still working on the plan that would become the MCU, or to be more accurate, they changed it to look like who would eventually play him, Samuel Jackson. Now with the MCU in full effect. Can you sincerely tell me that you could see a white person playing Nick Fury? I personally can't because he fits the role perfectly. Its the same with a lot of the characters (this coming from someone who still hasn't seen Ant man or Civil War, don't kill me please). I don't see anyone playing Iron Man better then Robert Downy Jr. Chris Pratt as Starlord, Scarlet Johansson as Black Widdow (though she was also a controversial casting pick to the masses as she's the lead in Ghost in the Shell), Chris Evens as Captain America and more. It was intentional that I used the superhero names as a FYI.

The only other reason I would let it slide is if it is a re-imagining of the story, in a new situation. To use Ghost in the shell as an example. It would make no sense for the role to be for an asian actor, if the interpretation is set in Germany. You would logically get a german actor for that role. Now some would say that "That never happens idiot" Well, it does happen, quite a bit actually. For Live action, it mostly happens when a story is told in an asian situation, it rarely happens in reverse, but again, that's live action.

Animated on the other hand, that's called "dubbing", and that happens all the time. This is when I cop out and do all animated forms together along with Comics. In a space when you can create anything you want, then I honestly don't care so long as the performance is solid. Now that being said, I'd rather a push for fresh talent over tried and true voice actors when possible, as a mix of brand new voice actors and voice acting veterans never hurts. And while again, it would be better to have voices that match the race and age of the character, sometimes its not a good option especially for child characters, there's this whole thing called puberty, kinda hurts child actors while its happening and if you were a director, would you go with a pre puberty child actor who may have their voice drastically change, causing several potential re-castings, or an adult who can do a child's voice?

At the end of the day, it really depends on the situation, and if the actor can make me believe they are the character, because at the end of the day, that's what I look for above all else. Again, I love diversity if its an added bonus, not the central focus. Call me crazy if you want. I'll see you all for the opening impressions of Wolverine and the X-Men

Opinion Piece: The Mary Sue

The next Sunday Review from me is going to be Swindle, don't worry about that. But Sunday is primerily for things that don't need to take up Wednesday when possible. And with Wednesday's next review being Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I think this needs to be brought up. This topic needs its own post, so to not bog down the review. Now I should say that this is only covering the Mary Sue character analysis way (and no, I won't also be using The Marty Stu, sake of consistency, and most people just use the one name anyway), not the website. I know of it, don't care about it, never needed to go to it. Oh, and as a word of warning, the toy break will continue next week with the concept of White Washing. But hey, at least there will also be E3 stuff!

To quote Wikipedia: "A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character, a young or low-rank person who saves the day through unrealistic abilities. Often this character is recognized as an author insert or wish-fulfillment." This is going to be the definition I use for this post.

Lets start off with Rey who had many people who saw The Force Awakens see her as a Mary Sue. Using that definition, every single Jedi would fall into that category, what do you think The Force is? Now in the context of the world and the star wars universe, no. She is not a Mary Sue character, but she does have Mary Sue moments. Those being the battle of Jakku, and her escape from the interrogation cell. Both of these lean a bit on the side of bad writing. However, both of them I'm willing to let slide depending on how Episode VIII plays out, because as of right now, those moments could genuinely be Mary Sue moments, or foreshadows for episode 8 when it arrives, depending on how it plays out.

Another thing Internet, don't hate on Mary sues, and then demand for writers to write them. Let's step back to last year with Avengers Age of Ultron, and Black Widow. Not to drive it in further, as this will be quick. A flawed character, is a superior character. People were complaining about Black Widow being kidnapped, and on rewatching, I think everyone was wrong about the situation. Remember back to the first Avengers movie? Yeah, she was "kidnapped" in that one too, only difference was that she beat up several armed guards while tied to a chair. I think the intention was for her to only give the illusion of being captured while she was in the cage. Her getting there, that was just her being captured, but once she woke up, the plan was for her to look like she was waiting for the right moment to escape. Did that come off well in the movie? Well, no, it didn't. But because people jumped the gun, the traditional knee jerk reaction, people demanded her to be better, stronger, and perfect. To that I say: Why? Again, a flawed character is a better character, a more compelling and interesting character. To have her as perfect, which in itself is impossible because again, flawed character is a better character meaning that a perfect character in universe would be an awful character out of universe, to the viewer.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that the Internet has a fascination with Mary Sues, because many who are the most vocal about it are exposed to Mary Sues all the time. Where? In video games. Not that they are exposed to them, they control them, they are them. Again, using that definition, name 5 that have something that gives a narrative conclusion for the failed state, "game over". This is something being looked into more with more modern games like Ace Attorney 5 Not guilty, but disgraced attorney ending, Monkey Island 2 having a more comical "You couldn't have died. You're standing right here." situation. But using that definition, the act of retrying a situation is in the universes of the games, an unrealistic ability. You are the biggest Mary Sue in most video games, maybe all depending on how you look at it. Kind of ironic, isn't it? But at least now that we have this out of the way, lets check out Force Awakens on Wednesday, shall we?

#WTFU

On the Facebook page for the site, I posted my stance on this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqFAMOtwaI

The following, is a direct copy from the page, I am sharing it here because... well there are only 12 people following the page.

I completely agree with this, speaking as a content creator. Right now, ignoring the Youtube side of future content, my reviews fall under Fair Use. As the site grows, with more and more content going up, I run the risk of these claims coming to me, and it'll become worse when I can do more video content. I've been paying attention to what happened with Youtube recently, and it is absolutely disgraceful how easily that system can be, has been, and will probably continue to be abused. To say that it's broken is an understatement, it barely worked in the first place.

I've seen channels almost taken down because of mistakes, and Youtube not responding to both the channel, and the one trying to remove the claim. I've seen the examples in this video as they were happening. That's on top of content creators trying to copyright words in the english dictionary, for the sake of taking down content, which they easily did because of how broken it is. I'm not kidding when I say I'm sitting on constant backups of content and a reserve site, just encase I have to deal with this shit, with it being on the verge of new video content coming soon, on a new channel. So yeah, I'm with them, I'm with the content creators, where is the fair use?

Opinion Piece: The many faces of satire

This is something I probably should have done long before now, back when I was reviewing Kickassia, Suburban Knights and To Boldly Flee. For those who have read them, you'll know that I praised the films (overall) as great comedies, but that could be my enjoyment of satire. But at face value, there may be a lingering belief, does this mean that I enjoy movies like the Movie movies, and to that I say no. But why? Why is there a difference between To Boldly Flee and something like Disaster Movie?

First off, its the references. With To Boldly Flee, yes its satirizing many different movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, Men in Black ect, the same as the Movie movies. But at the core, they're still satirizing themselves. Jesu Otaku being electrocuted and becoming Edward from Cowboy Bebop as a example. With something like Meet the Spartans, there's no smart self satire, just crude satire of anything thats popular and, in particular, current. In To Boldly Flee, every reference has something to do with either the genre or the characters, whereas with the Movie movies, the humor is aimed at anyone who has watched the mocked films, often resorting to "jokes" that to many people, aren't funny as it is just a reference. There were ridiculous amounts of "jokes" I've seen in some of those Movie movies that got nothing out of me other then "really?". Now granted, there have been cases where the films got a laugh out of me, like the road marker signs showing which path leads to safety, and the other leads to death. That was funny for me as it mocks one of tropes in Horror films. With the Movie movies, it comes off as a mockery of the original source, even if the source movie was still being worked on at the start of the production, with To Boldly Flee, the only obvious, at least for me, reference that wasn't anything to do with the producers and actors was the mockery of S.O.P.A, and that was because it was an issue during the production for them as Internet Critics. Every other reference is, at least to me, more of a homage to the source material. Yes it makes it look comedic, but in a more controlled way then the Movie movies. The use of Mario Kart's Blue shell as a example: its absolutely stupid to see it in To Boldly Flee, but it still has the weight of the shell in the games. The dread on their faces, the way the shell moves, the way it behaves is very similar to the way it works in the Mario Kart series. If you've ever had the shell float over you when you were in the lead, about to win, you know the feeling of dread when you see it, the feeling when you process "there goes my victory".

A big problem I personally have with the Movie movies is the budget, or lack there of, in the production. You can tell these movies were made as cheep as possible, and to me its insulting. But I hear you asking "But these movies were also done cheep, why are you praising them and hating the Movie movies?" And the reason why is because the Chanel Awesome anniversary movies were never at a cinema. I can't walk into a store or my local DVD rental shop and borrow them. The movie movies are. I remember first herd of the Movie movies when I saw the Epic Movie poster at one of the nearby cinema's here, same as Disaster Movie. So to see that these films were put into cinemas is a genuine insult for me. For the anniversary films, I can forgive the cheep budget, and they make do with what they can, producing some great films with what they had. The Movie movies scream "We did this so that we can make more profit". It looks intentionally cheep which is why I find it disgraceful. I give the Bayformers films a lot of hate, but at least they look like they deserve to be shown in cinemas... whether they do or not is subject to opinion. This is going to sound like another contradiction, so feel free to raise any Objections. But while I haven't seen the film yet, I also don't have that problem with Spaceballs because it adds to the comedy factor. To see the Millennium Falcon as a glorified RV, I think its hilarious, Darth Vader's costume being massively over sized and on someone as pathetic looking as Lord Dark Helmet (think, feel free to tell me I'm wrong if I am) I find hysterical.

So why am I defending Spaceballs and not the Movie movies? Because Spaceballs is, in concept, similar to Young Frankenstein. Both films take aspects of their source material and add comedic aspects to it. What if the blind made accidents? What if the denial of characters like Igor was to such a extent, they had no idea about parts of their bodies? It adds a comedic edge to the original source material. That's what people like about Young Frankenstein, Airplanes, Spaceballs, what I like about the Anniversary films and what the Movie movies lack. Its also one of the reasons why projects like Video Games Highschool took off and why spoof animations like Batman eating a Hotdog keep getting views to this day. Anyway, that's it for now, tomorrow: The Pikmin shorts

Opinion piece: Why I don't care about a character's gender

Something extra that I didn't think I'd do, but might as well throw my opinion into the mix.

This is something I see crop up more and more over the years as each entertainment medium evolves, that being the diversity of the genders in (insert medium here). Now while my view is slightly different for music, my view for film, television, books and games is exactly the same. I don't care about the character's gender.

Opinion piece: The concept of True Fear

That is correct, you get two opinion pieces today.

While I do investigate all different kinds of the mediums I review, all different genres, play styles ect, horror isn't one I investigate often. While I have my own personal fears and there are scenes in films that creep me out because they rely on those fears, when a movie, show or game is meant to be scary, I find that I'm even less scared by it. With all the talk about Five nights at Freddy's happening at the moment (maybe a review next year, I'm rarely topical, you should all know that by now), it has given me a chance to ponder the concept of True fear and why I'm not as easily scared by horror.

So what is the difference between horror and "true fear"? For me, its the human factor. The human imagination is powerful and it can scare you more then any movie of show could. What's scarier, a lifeless corpse in a dark hallway, or seeing someone shoot that person while they are alive? When you see a dead body, with blood around him, your mind instantly starts thinking "who did this? How did this person died? What did the killer look like?", it leaves more room for the imagination to take effect, and as such this person without a face seems more terrifying, the illusion itself is scarier then then this person is, and when done well, it can be truly terrifying. That's why I think books do this kind of horror the best because while it can describe the face, the imagination can still alter it, so in reality they still don't have a face, but instead thousands of slightly different faces. Fear of the unknown is a fear shared between most people on this planet, hence why people fear death, hell and the devil, and at a root, the imagination can be a cause.

This concept also lends itself to the concept of the Uncanny Valley, when something looks so realistic that it stops being realistic. As human beings, we're used to seeing common sites in society, we know what a human face looks like as a example. But when robots start being made with human esque aspects to them, human eyes, moving mouths ect. In trying to replicate realism, it actually stops looking realistic. In horror, the concept can be used to scare you. Look at Five nights at Freddy's and Slenderman as examples. If you look at the designs for the anamatronics in the game, they all have that Uncanny Valley aspect to them.

The same can also be said for Slenderman (before taking into account his other... features...). It's no accident that there's no face on him.

There is another aspect that these two concepts share for their games in particular, the shock value. You don't know when and where these characters will show up, and combined with the the atmosphere that the games have, it will get those jump scares out of you. I haven't seen enough of the gameplay of either of them to accommodate for the music (should it exist) but the dark colours, the lack of any other presence, and the lore the games have

For Five nights at Freddy's can be found here for those curious http://www.gameskinny.com/qp4nb/five-nights-at-freddys-lore-hints-you-may-have-missed
And here's the lore for Slenderman (because I've had a hard time finding a source with detail):

A common problem though for shock scares is the lack of subtlety. a patch of blood every hour and a chilling theme is scarier then blood pools every 5 minutes... that I'd hope would be common sense.

Finally, a final excellent tool in horror is the lack of control, the lack of power. An army of zombies isn't threatening when you're a walking tank, that defeats the purpose of horror. The greatest horror monsters have all shared traits with the humanity of the time with their greatest strengths being the lack of strength you have to challenge them, but letting the viewer walk away wondering, questioning "am I really like that?" Even modern characters like the Nolanverse version of the Joker has that aspect to it. If you can master those tools, then you can create something truly terrifying. Until next week for Transformers 4.

Don't be afraid of what comes alive at night :)

 ... Its and old joke, but a good joke...

Why do Bronies and Pegasisters exist?

I believe I speak for a large majority of the world who also don't have a clue as to why this question needs to be asked. There are people who make money off of Youtube trying to answer this question and personally, while I see their opinions as valid takes on the question, I don't think it's the whole answer. Seeing as I've just finished my review of this generation of the series's first film, I might as well throw my opinion into the mix as well. Is this opinion the final answer to the question? Probably not, though I do believe its a step in the right direction. This is a wall of text FYI.

As a forward for those who aren't aware of the term: a "Brony" is a male fan of the My Little Pony franchise in some way. It is a self endowed term that the community gave to itself. Due to a large, and loud, portion of the community being male, the fan base refers to itself as "Bronies". However there is a female equivalent (which I found during the research for this topic, I generally don't like to look to deeply into fandoms due to... distasteful products fan communities have produced) called "Pegasisters" (I swear to Arceus I'm not making this up).

One of the closest takes on the question is this (as a short hand version): the current MLP generation is written as a sitcom and men tend to prefer sitcoms and comedy in general over other genres. There are, however some flaws with that view. Generally speaking, a sitcom generally follows every member of its main group (take for example, The Big Bang Theory, every episode gives each member of its main group a decent amount of air time). One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when putting MLP in with these types of shows is that, while you may see the main cast in each episode, any given episode tends to revolve around a select few of them and the others would only appear if they needed to be. So while it might be a comedy, it isn't a sitcom. The other issue with this view is that it negates the other portion of the fanbase, the intended market.

So why do I think its fanbase is the way it is, a part of it will be explained if you read these:

"Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon's unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals."

"Animation offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world."

"You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway."

Who was the person who originally spoke these words? Walt Disney. The man spoken of as one of the geniuses of animation, the man behind the most well known animated character in history. This style of thinking is still used in the Disney animation studios (at least, to my knowledge... theory) to this day. There's a reason why people still watch Disney films, regardless of their age: because their films are targeted towards everyone and I believe the same can be said for MLP. When I finally caved into my curiosity, I said to myself "if its anything like what my sister watches, then I'll look into the first 5 episodes at the most (to give the series a fair chance), and move on if it doesn't pursued me to keep looking into it". At the end of the first two episodes I was asking myself "Did they seriously just do that in a show for that audience?". Normally a pilot episode/ episodes are used to shown as concepts as to what the rest of the show is going to be like and while the pilot for MLP is misleading to a degree, it did accomplish its goal of deviating itself from the other children's TV shows (both for boys and girls). As I looked into it more for this review, I started seeing several resemblances to animated Disney films.

Before I go into this point, I want to talk a little bit about Marketing (yes I know its boring, I had to learn it in High School). When your marketing a product for kids, your not only targeting kids, your also targeting their parents. The reason for this is that, more often then not, the parents are going to be the ones to fuel their children's love for the series. For example, I didn't get into Transformers from watching the show, what first got me into is is a birthday present from my parents, which was Transformers Armada Jetfire. From there I discovered the show and the rest is history. The other aspect to targeting parents is this: If a child is watching the show, then the parents will either ignore the show (loosing a possible viewer), the child will either want the parents to watch the show with them (which may make them phase out, loosing quality time with the child) or watch the show with them because they have nothing better to do with their time. If the parent likes the show, then the parent will most likely be inclined to buy the toys based on that show for their child, earning more money for the company. It was probably this trail of thought (in some form) that convinced Hasbro to green light the changes.

This doesn't describe why the team behind the show would decide to make these changes in the first place. And for that, I want to divert your attention to these:

1. "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness" Lauren Faust

2. 

3.

(Yes, I know the videos mostly relates to games, but the concepts still apply for TV shows and film)

So what do these have to do with anything? The first video talks about designing for children and the later points are what I want to bring attention to. "Kids are adults with a lot less experience", contrary to popular belief, children can handle complicated ideas if it is being presented in a way that makes sense for them. I mentioned in my last opinion piece, on how the Transformers have survived for so long, that the stories that have succeed, that will survive the test of time explore complicated ideas while keeping that simplistic theme, one of the reasons for that is because of how younger generations can interpret these concepts. Children can understand more then most would like to admit, the only issue is that they need to be taught these concepts in different ways to others. I want to divert your attention to Avatar: The Last Airbender (and maybe Korra, I haven't watched enough episodes to base the following on Korra though), the series is mature and well constructed, yet all ages can understand its messages because it is written in a way that teaches all ages. I intend to review Avatar later so I'm not going to go into much more detail, stay tuned.

 As for the second video and the quote, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that more and more stories are getting darker re-imaginings and, contrary to popular belief, MLP:FiM is a darker re-imagining when compared to its predecessors (from what I've herd). The quote is by Lauren Faust, the concept designer for this current generation, spoke that as a inspiration behind the changes.

"My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys, but she was disappointed that her imagination at the time was nothing like the animated shows, in which the characters, according to Faust, "just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying". With the chance to work on My Little Pony, she hoped to prove that "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness"." Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_Friendship_Is_Magic

Darker doesn't have to mean "grey", for darker can come in all forms, in this case, darker themes. The world that has been crafted for FiM appears to be like nothing seen in the series before (I can't say for certain I haven't seen previous generations and I don't know anyone who has). I mentioned before that marketing likely played a key part in Hasbro greenlighting project, but there is another reason, and ironically it's Michael Bay. With the financial success (sadly I can't argue with that) of the Transformers movies at the time (so the First film, and Revenge of the Fallen) Hasbro was looking to redesign and re-imagine their other brands. Lisa Licht suggested to Lauren Faust that her animation style fitted the MLP series and from there, the rest is history.

Finally, during my investigations in the series, I found a common insult being thrown around, saying that all bronies (in particular) are autistic in some form. As a man who is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome myself, I find this offensive... but possibly with a shred of truth to it. Now before I have insults and attacks thrown at me, let me explain. A common connection between people who have Asperger Syndrome and Autism is the kinds of shows, film, visual stimulus in a nutshell. People with Aspergers and Autism tend to enjoy "simplistic" shows, simplistic as in facial and tone. A common issue Aspie's and Autistic people have are issues with facial expressions, body language and tones, its why a common issue is sarcasm. While I was analyzing the show and Equestria Girls, I noticed the way the characters behave is simplistic when compared to people of the real world. You know what the characters are feeling as they have simplistic facial expressions and tone. You know when someone's annoyed, scared, happy, bored ect because the simplistic actions, however not so simplistic that its insulting. Again, the way the show is written means that it teaches without forcing the lesson, something that is very hard to do. I released a questionnaire a while ago, but I didn't get enough replies to conclusively prove this theory. Thank you to those who did participate though. I should stress, this does not mean that I think all bronies are Aspie's/ Autistic, this is just to shed some light as to why Aspies and Autistic people might like the show.

So at the end of the day, why do Bronies and Pegasisters exist? There are many reasons, several I haven't addressed in this. However I don't believe it was a accident, I think it was going to happen, but that should say how well its been written. Next Wednesday: Transformers Age of Extinction... but I have something else for today, come back later for a festive post.

Just a small thing, what the intentional content on this site is

As a slight extension to my post the other day, I want to briefly explain what is going to become a constant type of post here and how I'm going to structure them. If you don't want to read it, then by all means don't, I'm not forcing you to do so (even though this will also go onto Blaster's Projects... hehehe...). But if you do, then feel free to yell at me when I don't meet these in a post going forward and I'll either remake the post or explain why i can't/ couldn't. With that underway

The reviews: The reason why this site is called "Blaster's Reviews". As I said in the very first post of this site, I'm going to review whatever I think I can, whether that be games, TV shows, movies ect. I will always be open to suggestions and I will get to any requests as soon as I can (bare in mind, some might take longer then others if i don't have the material in some way shape or form and can't find a way of reviewing it (for example, I'm not going to review a game until I can play it on its intended console, I'm also not going to review movies while they're at the cinema due to how I write the reviews). I keep a list of reviews that i'm going to do and the order I'm going to release them and any requests will get added to that list. The way I review content is that I have a series of dot points that I add to as a watch/ play, then I structure a review around that and any issues I find, I try and come up with a way to fix that or I leave it up to interpretation. I always review something within its entirety story wise. For a game, I'll review the main campaign and (something I'm going to do from now on) mention any post game content that isn't apart of the story or if its a new story entirely, I'll review that (or what I've gotten done up to the time of writing). I will always review a TV show by its season, as indicated by K-On and the Transformers Marathon. As for movies, I will review movies as a stand alone product but will look at how it fits in with the other films continuing that plot.

The impressions: These are literally just going to be my thoughts as a consumer, not as a reviewer. I'm not going to look at a product like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a reviewer until I have my hands on the product released to the public. If I do a impression of something, then don't be surprised if my review says something completely different to the impression. Aside from the E3 impressions, don't expect these to come out at set times, it really just depends on releases and what catches my interest (in most cases), but I will do impressions on topics that I get enough requests for, though they might not have a lot of content in them.

The rants and opinion pieces: There isn't much distinguishing the difference between these. Opinion pieces like the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon are when I've put thought into how something is done whereas a rant is me expressing my views on a particular, current affair concerning the content I review. As with the impressions, don't expect these often but I'm willing to take requests (just assume that I take requests for anything in this post)

Top (Insert number here) lists: I hopefully shouldn't have to explain these.

Transformers Marathon: After 30 years, how is this franchise still alive and popular?

I have one last part of the Transformers Marathon. It’s not a review this time (though I’ll need a break from those as I said in my Transformers: Prime review), it’s a editorial. One of the things that crossed my mind as I’ve been going through the franchise is this, “How has the series survived this long and is still going strong?” There were series of the franchise that I didn’t look at in this marathon, I barely scratched the surface when it comes to the games and I haven’t even looked at its other mediums including the comics and the toys themselves, and even with those, the question still stands, how did the Transformers survive the test of time?

It would be too easy for me to say that the fan base kept it alive, and as such I won’t mention it until the end of this piece. There are other elements that kept this tale alive, one of which I mentioned in my first review for this marathon. One of the reasons I think that it survived is its overall simple plot. The classic Good vs. Evil stories have been around since the creation of the story. However, as time has gone on, the classic plot has developed, very few stories nowadays have that clear distinction of good and evil, the line has been blurred as there is always another side to the story, it’s a reflection of the world today. There’s no longer a clear villain in society as everyone could have dark intentions and it’s actually because of that, the classic tales of good and evil have kept alive. People want to believe that it’s just black and white, that there’s always a clear villain, so they cling to the stories that have that clear distinction. It’s a reason why the Harry Potter books became so successful (not the only reason, just a reason) and why they would likely survive the test of time and why some reinterpretations of older stories won’t. At the same time though, the story has to have differences to the concept and the way the Transformers franchise has done this is by moral choices, the reason why the plots of the episodes are more complicated then what they seem. Do you sacrifice a world, a civilisation, a race of sentient creatures just to save yours?  Do you protect creatures you’ve never met, that are probably afraid of you and will kill you just to protect themselves and risk the safety of your own race, or do you destroy them so that your race can thrive?  When is something going too far? These and other questions kids wouldn’t pay attention to when they first see the show, its something for the parents to see and the kids to notice when they are older and can understand the concepts and the consequences of the actions. The story that has always been a part of the Transformers Lore (not including Rescue Bots...) is a story that will be told in some form for years to come, because it’s a story that everyone will hear somehow. It’s a story that will never be dated due to human nature.

Every story needs its characters and while I might not agree with the decisions made with some of them, the personalities of each of the characters are distinct and memorable, even if sometimes they were poorly written. You remember Gears, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Perceptor, Cyclonus, Demolisher, Override and many more. You even remember the Human characters: Spike, Rad, Alexis, Kicker and Coby, and I’m only mentioning the humans from the seasons I’ve reviewed here. And its actually for that reason why I hate the direction the Bay films are going. While I will openly admit that I like the first one (see review for why people wouldn’t like it) but from Revenge of the Fallen onwards, this includes what I’ve heard of Age of Extinction, the characters are turning into more emotional versions of the character in a M. Night Shyamalan film, bland and boring to watch.

The cartoons have always been a promotion for the toys, and the toys have helped in the popularity of the show and the franchise as a whole. The Transformers toys have been, and always will be, the fusion of a puzzle and a action figure. As time’s gone on, the toys have developed, become more complicated, harder to transform but does more in both vehicle and robot mode while still maintaining the core design of the character (some more obvious then others). I could show you 3 different versions of the Optimus Prime figure and you would be able to tell that they were all Optimus Prime because they always keep the core features of the original (they always have a red truck transformation, the head design is always the same and when the trailer is included, the trailer always has a transformation of its own (this isn’t including his Beast wars design but some of these also apply to Optimus Primal)) Megatron would be harder to distinguish but all of his designs have been offensive (a gun, to a cannon, a tank, a fighterplane, a batmobile esque car along with a plane ect), Starscream has always been some sort of fighter plane, Red Alert and Ratchet have always been ambulances as just a few other examples but over time, they’ve become more complicated. It would take less time for anyone to transform Optimus’s Generation 1 design then it would to transform his Evasion mode from the new Age of Extinction line of toys, even though they’re the same truck. As a result, kids still love playing with the toys and they watch the show to add to the experience, to use their imagination to make new stories for the characters.

The Michael bay films might be making more money in a week then most people will ever see in their lives, but its the cartoons and the toys that will keep Transformers going. It’s the Generation 1’s, the Unicron trilogies’, the Animated’s and the Prime’s that will keep the franchise alive long after the movies have finished. On top of that, it’s the fans that have grown up with the franchise since Generation 1 exposing their kids to the newer seasons and playing with their kids’s Transformers toys that keeps the name alive. It’s the lessons it teaches with characters that you want to be. It’s been 40 years, and let’s hope it lives for 40 more, or until all are one.