BobbyBesar Posted September 11, 2014 Nickelodeon is clearly washing their hands of this show and dumping everything they have as quickly as possible. It's a real shame because I want the show to do well and Nick doesn't seem to... It's also a shame because I expect literally none of the people I managed to convince to give Korra another shot will be caught up before new episodes air. It's just not gonna happen. I don't really know what to make of this, because Korra was originally supposed to only run for 2 short (13 ep?) seasons, which they then gradually extended. So, they had some level of increasing confidence in the show (or maybe just unexpected airtime to fill?) The back and forth makes me almost believe the spin that they found that their target audience just prefers to consume it online, and they're trying other distribution models as an experiment. I haven't watched it since the Season 2 finale though, once they started stealth-releasing it I couldn't be bothered to find it. If it ends up on netflix, I'll probably watch it then, that's how I watched AtLA, and I think it was probably better for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dium Posted September 11, 2014 The back and forth makes me almost believe the spin that they found that their target audience just prefers to consume it online, and they're trying other distribution models as an experiment. Mmmmaybe? What happened last season*, as far as anybody can decipher, is that episodes were leaked really early and Nickelodeon freaked out and aired episodes two weeks later with almost no promotion, interspersed with weird "only on Nick, you can't see this online!!!" promo bumpers, and then halfway through the season it was ONLY online but on their website. The entire season is still there, free to stream on the Nickelodeon website. But I think most people are like you and aren't going to bother going to some Children's HTML wasteland to watch anything, free or not, and are going to wait for it to show up on Netflix or Hulu (you'll probably be waiting a long time for that). Maybe some people would watch if they promoted it, but they haven't done any discernible promotion for the show since Season 2. If this is an experiment, it's an experiment to see if a show can do well with a promotion budget approaching zero. The answer seems to be no, it can't. *It's so weird to already call Season 3 "last season" since, yes, it did end only a month ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted September 21, 2014 I'm finally watching Young Justice. This show is pretty good! ...Sure does love the whole clone/real father/other familial trope plot twist though. I'm just starting season 2, post-timeskip. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLastBaron Posted September 22, 2014 I started watching Static Shock after Milestone stuff was brought up in the comics thread. I think I'm liking it more than I did as a kid, and I really liked it as a kid. Also a lot of the more serious stuff like gang violence and the kids coming from low income single parent families seems a lot less in the background than I remember it being when I was little. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted September 22, 2014 Loved Static Shock as a kid! I always just figured it'd be one of those things I wouldn't like as much now that I'm All Growed Up. Then again I loved Young Justice and even to an extent Teen Titans before that and now that I'm thinking about it I want to watch Batman Beyond and... Why do I like superhero cartoons/movies so much more than comics? Like I haaaaaaate the comics. Weird. Maybe I don't hate them. Maybe I just want to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted September 22, 2014 I don't like the actual comics because the storylines are nonsense. I've called them soap operas before because of how much "look, this character is dead but oh wait he's not really because of this crazy explanation that contradicts everything we said before so we're going to have an insane event that reboots the whole thing so we can start over and do the exact same thing". The cartoons represent a chance to tell a story about the characters (the actual interesting part of the comics) without necessarily being beholden to the awful canon. In quite a few cases they've improved the comics in the process (such as the tragic background for Mr. Freeze and the introduction of Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya from Batman the Animated Series). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted September 22, 2014 One thing that's really sinking in watching Young Justice is that since I'm somewhat familiar with the DC Universe, most of the big revelations are "oh, they're going with this version of the character." Like the moment I saw that the original Roy Harper was missing an arm, I knew he was going to be Arsenal. The moment a kid named Garfield showed up, I knew he would become Beast Boy. The moment I saw that Black Manta was in the series, I figured "I'll bet he's related to this new version of Aqualad since Black Manta is pretty much the only other black Atlantean" and was fucking right about it. It's very familiar paint-by-numbers storytelling. It's not that it's bad (it's probably one of the better applications of these characters) or that I don't like it, it's just that I've seen it all before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted September 22, 2014 YJ is extremely predictable if you have knowledge of the source material. In another cartoon it wouldn't be as big a deal but YJ takes itself very seriously and the big revelations aren't really that big when you see them coming a mile away. I still found the show to be pretty entertaining though. The thing that really drove me nuts was Zatanna and Rocket. They introduced two new characters to add to the team at the tail end of the first season, only to basically have them disappear from the show at the start of the second season. What was the point of that? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted September 22, 2014 I had no knowledge of most of it, so it worked for me. Basically I only knew Nightwing as a character evolution. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aprettycooldude Posted September 22, 2014 I think the other Big Beef with comics is that while the cartoons and movies have made big strides in equality, the comic book world itself tends to lag behind. DC is *killing it* when it comes to TV (Arrow is great, Young Justice is great, etc.), but then you look over at the comics and you've got that New 52 Catwoman reboot that was the *literal worst*, along with whatever misogynist atrocities Dan Didio is having people commit at any given moment. And is it just me, or do the cartoons that aren't geared "towards adults" always better than those that are? Under The Red Hood felt like a terrible slog, but Brave And The Bold was probably the best Batman thing since TAS. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobbyBesar Posted September 22, 2014 I don't like the actual comics because the storylines are nonsense. I've called them soap operas before because of how much "look, this character is dead but oh wait he's not really because of this crazy explanation that contradicts everything we said before so we're going to have an insane event that reboots the whole thing so we can start over and do the exact same thing". The cartoons represent a chance to tell a story about the characters (the actual interesting part of the comics) without necessarily being beholden to the awful canon. In quite a few cases they've improved the comics in the process (such as the tragic background for Mr. Freeze and the introduction of Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya from Batman the Animated Series). It's also important to remember that there are approximately 7.3 million comics released each year by the major publishers, versus about 30 episodes of a cartoon. The nature of story telling and editing means that the cartoons are going to be much better on a per-episode basis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted September 25, 2014 After watching the first season a while ago, I finally watched the second season of Wakfu. It is way better than a French anime based on a free-to-play MMO has any right to be. Geeeeeeeeeez. Geez! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted September 25, 2014 Every time I see the name Wakfu I always misread it as Waifu before I catch myself. I've never seen the show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted October 3, 2014 Missed opportunity: not using the conspicuously absent clips of the Cars movies for "disgust." For all I know this will be good, but this trailer seems to be really banking on nostalgia toward older Pixar movies after a string of disappointments. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted October 3, 2014 Has Pixar really had a "string of disappointments"? I know that Brave had a fairly lukewarm reception, but Monsters University seemed to be surprisingly well liked (I haven't seen either, except for twenty minutes of Monsters University, so this is just going off of internet chatter). Then of course there's Cars 2, but did nayone have high enough expectations for that movie that they could call themselves "disappointed"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted October 3, 2014 Maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to say that Pixar's quality has noticeably dropped off since Toy Story 3, even if that's lowering the bar from "consistently exceptional" to "above average." Drifting into doing mostly sequels (Monsters U, Cars 2, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, Cars 3) after years of doing mostly original movies doesn't help matters. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Merus Posted October 3, 2014 Yeah, but those stunningly original movies were because they were in a very public feud with Michael Eisner at the time, and they wanted to demonstrate to potential buyers that they could do more than just the cutesy Disney stuff of A Bug's Life or Monsters Inc. Then Eisner got kicked out, Disney bought Pixar, and they asked them to do the cutesy stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
syntheticgerbil Posted October 3, 2014 Also doesn't help that John Lasetter is a money hungry fiend who probably was never all that creative in the first place. Oh and with the recent wage fixing scandal all the higher ups and Pixar and other Californian studios were aware of, I think they can all get bent and close for all I care. Nothing much else is probably coming out of the Calarts ghetto of believing in yourself or that "you're awesome" as the podcast put it. Steve Purcell is directing the new Toy Story short. It probably won't be good, but I'll watch it 'cause of him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted October 4, 2014 Has anyone here been watching Steven Universe? I mean, if not, you should, because it's been consistently excellent and I wanna discuss spoilers for Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem: So, holy shit, this show is Madoka Magica now? I've been thinking for a while that the gems were from space, so it's nice to have confirmation, but the stuff about how all the monsters they've been fighting have been gems all along was a pretty fantastic twist. I went back and watched the episode where Steven tried to make friends with the Centipeedle and noticed that it briefly tries to assume human form when it's released from its bubble. I remember that when Amethyst's gem was damaged, her voice started coming out backwards and scrambled, so now I'm wondering if any of the mosnters they've been fighting have had scrambled voices like that. Either way, holy shit. Still waiting to see who the fifth member of the team that nobody ever talks about is though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tanukitsune Posted October 4, 2014 It's also messed up to think they didn't want any of them gems to leave the planet.... Was it because of the Gem War they mentioned? I wonder if Steven's new power can simply return ALL the gems to normal? Anyway, yes, this is getting intense. Has anybody seen the new Korra? The new episode is so overly dramatic I kinda don't want to watch more... Korra is practically a bum fighting illegal fights because she want to be stronger I assume, Mako is stuck serving as bodyguard to an awful person, Bolin is probably working for the villain of the season and her girlfriend seems to want to break up with him instead of getting him to leave, because a break up is... more dramatic. I know I've only seen one episode, but it feels like the show is just picking the most dramatic route, like when in the new Scooby-Doo toon, Velma and Shaggy dated only to break up, because drama, and Fred called off the wedding with Daphne, because drama. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted October 4, 2014 Don't you dare badmouth Mystery, Inc. In all honesty, that show handles its relationships millions better than any other cartoon of its ilk. The brief dating stint between shaggy and Velma actually served the purpose of strengthening their relationship by the end of the show! It didn't exist just to exist.I mean that's not to say it was super deep or meaningful but to write it if as "because drama"... And to even think of comparing it to Korra, just, ugh, do you want me to hate you? DO YOU?! Korra is the worst. Also no tegan I have not watched Steven Universe yet despite greatly loving every other of your recommendations that I have actually watched. Maybe that'll be the first thing I check out after I get internet this Monday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tanukitsune Posted October 4, 2014 I love that cartoon and it's the best Scooby cartoon ever, but the Velma/Shaggy thing seemed a bit forced to me, true, Fred and Daphne actually feel like a legit couple here, but once again, the break up seemed forced. And frankly, having minor complains with Scooby is nothing compared to the complaints I have about Korra, sure Scoob has a few minor hitches, but Korra is getting harder to "digest" with each season. I'd say Korra is milking the cow for all it's worth, but I think I'd need a stronger expression, one where the cow is dead and yet they still try to milk it? Anyway, Mystery Inc. is better than Korra, and my complaints were the ONLY complaints I have of that show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted October 4, 2014 I appreciate that Mystery Inc seems to have really tried to do a same-sex relationship in what is still ostensibly a children's cartoon, even if they couldn't really do much outside of hinting it was there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tanukitsune Posted October 4, 2014 Wait, I think it's "milking the CASH cow dry?", I'm no idiom expert though. Tegan, are you talking about Hot Dog Water Girl and Velma? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
