Transformers reinvented. Again.

[stray]

2 Things :

1 - Murphy didn't die.  That's kinda the point.  Did you get dragged out before the end of the film ?

2 - When was it you were taken to see Robocop ?  'Cause I'm already concerned at anyone who might think Scarface is suitable for a 7 year old.  Lol.  And whatnot...

I saw Robocop when it came out. Must have been 8 or 9.

I really didn't know the premise all that well back then, wasn't sure about Murphy, and who he was going to be... All I remember is seeing a cop (the good guys!) getting bucked like a motherfucker.


Anyways, Scarface. Yeah. Heh. My dad was a movie buff, just wanted me to see a Pacino movie. He regrets taking me to all of that violent shit now, but he took me to a lot good movies in general. Can't complain.

[Ironwood]

Robocop at 8.

 

[stray]

And sadly, I joined a gang by 13. Never shot any cops though. 

[Riggswolfe]

And sadly, I joined a gang by 13. Never shot any cops though. 

You're like a walking poster child for why kids shouldn't go see R-rated movies.

[WindupAtheist]

Robocop at 8.

 

That isn't normal? 

[stray]

And sadly, I joined a gang by 13. Never shot any cops though. 

You're like a walking poster child for why kids shouldn't go see R-rated movies.

More of the R rated stuff I saw when I was young just had nudity and such. In fact, the first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Breathless (the great, but corny Richard Gere remake). That was really young. Like 5 or 6. Also remember staying up late at night watching corny beach flicks like Hard Bodies. But whatever, titties are good.

Most of the truly bad stuff was at the cusp of my teens, I think. I think I saw Goodfellas at 12 -- and I immediately went out to a bookstore and stole the Wiseguy book it was based on (still have that same book too lol!). I mean, that was immediately inspiring in such a bad way. I wanted to be like that Henry Hill kid. Which is a pretty fucked up thing for a 12 year old to think.

But anyways, point is, nudity shouldn't have R ratings. Realistic violence (like mafia movies) -- yes. Might not even be appropriate for teenagers. And movies like Robocop shouldn't really have fucked up violence like that period -- then again, it's a classic, isn't it? I think the same director made Total Recall too. Which was equally violent and worth seeing. My youth would have probably been less thrilling without them.

[Riggswolfe]

I'm with you on the nudity vs violence thing. My daughter is 9 and I'd be much less worried if I found out she watched late night cinemax than something like Robocop.

[stray]

Correction: Apparently, I was 10 when Robocop came out.

[Riggswolfe]

Correction: Apparently, I was 10 when Robocop came out.

See, I don't get parents who do this. Take their kids to the wrong kinds of movies. I remember Beowulf almost being ruined for me by the 9 year old who cringed during every violent/scary scene and hid her face behind her hands. Not because she was distracting me but because I wanted to beat her mother for being Britney Spears stupid and probably giving the kid months worth of nightmares.

[stray]

Shit, I wasn't terrified. I was just shocked. In the following weeks, I even made my own comic book based on it (with ducks....it was called Roboduck... because ducks were all the rage back then).

I remember seeing Poltergeist when that came out though. That screwed me up. Especially the trees.


[edit] I gotta say though...

Even though I might not have had the most ideal childhood exposure to pop culture, I still think people are wussies about a lot of shit. Way too protective of kids. Remember -- you were a kid too. Did you really see yourself as so fragile back then? They're not some special breed of human being.

I'm about to go on a rant here about the way people try protecting kids in general, but I'll cut it short. Needless to say, they don't need so much handholding. Let them fight, let them ride their skateboards without that dumbass helmet on, let them see an action movie every once in awhile. Also, stop spending so much time with them. 

[Ironwood]

This is veering towards the political.

Short Version :  I don't want my 10 year old seeing Officer Murphy Executed by Psychopaths.

[Simond]

But it builds character! 

[Merusk]

We coddle children and protect them from seeing violence and death, when less than 100 years ago they'd be out on the farm helping to slaughter the livestock at 7 or learning to shoot the feral dogs.   Times are indeed different, but is it better?

Fuck.. political thought. Out out out..

Anywho, Stray and WUA aren't all that unique.  I knew several friends in 6th grade who thought I was a super-pussy for 1) not cussing and 2) getting ill when we watched Robocop at on of their birthday parties.  (and had my mother ever found-out that would have been the LAST time I'd ever been around that lad.)

[WindupAtheist]

Murphy getting his shit ruined was pretty gut-wrenching, me being a little kid and all.  But after that was a bunch of cool shit with a robot cop owning people, and I forgot all about it.  /shrug

[Phildo]

My mom wouldn't let me watch Gremlins 2 when it came out.  I was the only kid in my class that didn't go see it.  Traumatic stuff.

[Riggswolfe]

I'm about to go on a rant here about the way people try protecting kids in general, but I'll cut it short. Needless to say, they don't need so much handholding. Let them fight, let them ride their skateboards without that dumbass helmet on, let them see an action movie every once in awhile. Also, stop spending so much time with them. 

I agree with most of that except the action part. And that only because kids don't seperate reality and fantasy as well as adults. Hence my werewolf phobia after seeing an American Werewolf in London at around 8 or 10. Something like that.

[Ironwood]

My mom wouldn't let me watch Gremlins 2 when it came out.  I was the only kid in my class that didn't go see it.  Traumatic stuff.

I agree with her decision.  I was older and therefore wiser and I still found myself whacking off to Pheobe Cates.

 

[stray]

Geez, Gremlins 2? I think I had already watched Fast Times a gajillion times by that point. 

[Lantyssa]

One could argue that the movie is another tick on the 'Transformers = Anime' side of the ledger: Saturday Morning Cartoons did not generally kill off their heroes, whereas the Japanese analogue of Saturday Morning Cartoons does so with distressing regularity (Kamina! Nooooo!).

Not really influenced by that, since the stated goal was to kill off everyone so that they could sell a new toy line next year. 

Then it's just like anime...

[Jain Zar]

I was raised on R-rated movies, but this was different.  Sure people got blown away all the time in dad's movies, but this was Transformers.  This was mine.  People didn't say stuff like "Oh shit!" or get shot and die in stuff meant for me.  It was mind-blowing.

God, that bit where Megatron shot Ironhide in the face as he was crawling up and grabbing his leg.  It was so hardcore.  lol

That's why I liked the movie.  It felt  more logical.  People die in wars.  Even fixable robots can only take so much.
I remember being 7 or 8 and being totally depressed on how lame and wussy the He Man cartoon was.  Nobody got stabbed or genuinely hurt at all.  It was shit.
GI Joe was about the same, made even worse since people did die in the comics which were really kickass.  (Before it became HOLY SHIT NINJA TIME!! anyhow..)

Transformers dying was how it was supposed to be to my then 11 year old eyes.  People died in Star Wars and it didn't break my little born in the mid 70s brain, yet every cartoon was a wussfest with a lameass message at the end.  (Most of which were dumb, common sense anyone should already know, or one useful one about where to put your hand before petting a dog.  ONE USEFUL MESSAGE OUT OF HUNDREDS.)

Luckily Robotech showed up and then became my favorite cartoon on TV ever.  (Though its not perfect, and many modern cartoons are its equal if not superior these days.)

I grew up watching war movies and James Bond and westerns and stuff.

I never liked being pandered or coddled, especially because I never was done so by my parents.

Heck, I am still that way.  I don't want to be talked to like I am a moron or something.  Give it to me fairly, but give me the straight deal.

Its also why Lion Team Voltron was this fairyland bullshit while Vehicle team had massive fucking space wars and no goddamned pastel colored mice.

[Phildo]

My mom wouldn't let me watch Gremlins 2 when it came out.  I was the only kid in my class that didn't go see it.  Traumatic stuff.

I agree with her decision.  I was older and therefore wiser and I still found myself whacking off to Pheobe Cates.

 

...I somehow think it had more to do with the scary puppet monsters than sexual issues.  I was only 8 at the time.

[WindupAtheist]

Transformers dying was how it was supposed to be to my then 11 year old eyes.  People died in Star Wars and it didn't break my little born in the mid 70s brain, yet every cartoon was a wussfest with a lameass message at the end.

I think most kids knew enough to resent "parachute syndrome" on some level.  But still, Prime biting it was like if Luke got loose on Jabba's sail barge in Return of the Jedi and then suddenly someone just blew his head off.

Its also why Lion Team Voltron was this fairyland bullshit while Vehicle team had massive fucking space wars and no goddamned pastel colored mice.

The mice were weaksauce, I grant, but Lion Voltron owned the fuck out of Vehicle Voltron.  Come on.

[HaemishM]

The mice were weaksauce, I grant, but Lion Voltron owned the fuck out of Vehicle Voltron.  Come on.

You = crackhead

The Lion Voltron had Fatty McPorkskins and that little perv in training as characters. It was the gayest thing since gay came to Gaytown. It was Super Gay. Vehicle Voltron had enough characters that the shitty ones could be hidden in the background for the most part.

[geldonyetich2]

So, the hour-long pilot of Transformers Animated aired the 26th.  It's definitely different, it reminds me more of Astroboy than Transformers, but it's not hideous.  The characters seem to have a bit more personality this time around, although this might diminish their robot-ness somewhat.  It's also probably going to bother a lot of purists that the little girl protagonist apparently runs around with the capacity to ressurrect dead autobots around her neck (some kind of allspark connection).

[Cim]

Ruined!

[Jain Zar]

It was alright.  Nothing too special either way.  Wasn't bad, but wasn't all that good either.  Typical kid show to sell toys to kids.
Eh.  Ill watch it on TV I guess.

[Evil Elvis]

I'll third vehicle Voltron > lion Voltron.  Fuck Hunk, fuck Lance, and double-fuck Pidge.

[WindupAtheist]

You people are all insane.  Even with Hunk and Pidge and all the fucking mice, Lion Voltron still beat the piss out of those 40 indistinguishable guys flying a knockoff Voltron made out of cars and shit.

[Simond]

GaoGaiGar >>>>>>>>> Voltron, anyway.

[Lakov_Sanite]

To be more specific....




> All

[Jain Zar]

GaoGaiGar >>>>>>>>> Voltron, anyway.

Well, yeah.  But how many people have seen it or care to see it?  I've only seen some eps on Hong Kong shit subtitles.
(I may get the series in its US release when its on clearance.)

And at least from the active Transformers fanbase it seems as if the new TF Animated is a hit.  They overwhelmingly seem to love it, outside of the G1 nostalgia fucksocks.

As I said I found it decent but nothing great either way, but the fans seem to like it a lot.

[Velorath]

Robocop at 8.

 

I saw Robocop at 8 also.  In fact, between then and the time I tuned 10 I had seen Street Trash, Bad Taste, Night of the Living Dead (and Dawn & Day), Nightmare on Elm Street 3, the first six Friday the 13th movies, Predator, Alien, and Aliens, etc...

Never really seemed like a big deal to me.

[geldonyetich2]

There's not enough Transformers Animated rage here.  I'll start us off with my impressions of the characters from the pilot episode:

Optimus Prime: "I... really have no idea how to lead, but I mean well.  If only knew what it's like to be a 'hero', that's so important to me."
Bumblebee: "Look how cute and speedy I am.  I'm just such a young, innocent, go-getter that my bumbling is what gets us these nifty human friends of ours."
Ratchet: "I'm soooooo old.  Old, old, old, old.  I have old man whiskers on my face.  No, I really do, old man whiskers and age lines on my robotic face.  The rest of the autobots are such young, impetuous morons compared to me that I tend to ignore Optimus Prime's orders and give him a better plan instead, which he dutifully obeys."
Bulkhead: "Me big.  Do heavy lifting.  'Dats about it."
Prowl: "I think I'm way too cool to hang out with these other losers, and so tend to act like I've a serious case of teen-angst instead."

Humans: "We all think the Transformers are superheroes who have come to our city, televise their every action, and treat them as celebrities.  We're quick to forgive them when their presence causes widespread destruction from the inevitable giant robot battles."

Starscream: "I'm... really quite insane.  Megalomania is my god."

[Cim]

To be more specific....




> All

That thing rules, what is it?

[Simond]

That would be Genesic GaoGaiGar, the final form* of the GaoGaiGar mechanoid and...fourth? fifth? most  /powerful Super Robot in the history of all things. (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, Ideon, Getter Emperor, and maybe Gunbuster).

*at least, until Project Z finally gets made.