The Big Picture: Shell Shock

[MB202]

lol, I loved how Bob mentions that everyone was more interested in the Mass Effect 3 thing than the Turtles thing, because you know, that's a recent gaming thing, and this is a gaming website, and gaming websites are known to have the most thoughtful, insightful, and most of all, polite and calm individuals the world has ever known... But yeah, Ninja Turtles, if figures they'd remove the "teenage mutant" part of the title, since they're aliens now.

Also, I'm on the fence about Dr. Robotnik vs. Dr. Eggman. I usually prefer Dr. Robotnik, but I'm willing to call him Dr. Eggman, though in some cases, I'd wish Sega would bite the bullet and just start calling him Robotnik again in America and Europe, or at the very least, the old version of him (see Classic Robotnik from Sonic Generations).

 

[Callate]

I can't say I'm hugely invested in any iteration of TMNT any longer. I have some of the old comics, including the run that continued even while the animation show was ongoing. I saw the first movie and decided that was enough, thank you (hearing about Vanilla Ice in the second one helped reinforce that decision.)

But one point has to be made, that I suspect begs the question of most of this Big Picture entry: is there any prior version of the Turtles that having them be aliens wouldn't clash with to a ridiculous extent? So does it matter which version of same the outraged fans have in their heads?

 

[Avatar Roku]

Wow, I absolutely and utterly agree with you in a video for once. Not to say it's been a really rare thing. But then again it sometimes sort of has.

Oh, and nice to know the 60s live action Batman series had put those villains that I love on top, inventing Mr. Freeze. Personally I always hated that show for undermining my original concept of Batman. Making it out to be an overly campy, ambiguously dumb show. Hell I didn't know Batman was dark until the Tim Burton movie. Now at least I have a new appreciation for that campy campy show.

At the same time though, it's because of that show that Batman is even a thing nowadays. That show the reason you can mention the name Batman to any random person and they'll know who you mean.

 

[OneBrokePony]

I think I might have been aware of a comic when I was a kid, but I never saw it. I know I was aware of Mirage, because that was the copyright stamped on the stuff. The 1987 cartoon is the property I was a fandork for, my second big fandork period. I remember noticing the cartoon and the first two movies seemed to be different storylines (mostly because Bebop and Rocksteady weren't there and Tokka and Rahzar were, at least in movie II), but didn't make much of it. Strangely enough, with all the merchandise I got and Burger King Kids Club toys and cups and videos, and Hyperstone Heist, and having seen several eps, I don't remember a whole lot about it. Probably because I didn't actually stay with it to the end. Why? Sonic happened and started attracting all my fan attention.
Speaking of Sonic, as far as I'm concerned, Eggman is the games' antagonist, Robotnik is the cartoons'. The games and 90s shows were different enough from each other, and the character designs for the cartoon Robotniks were different enough from the games Eggman that I kinda separate them.

 

[Redd the Sock]

It was years before I got used to calling him Bowser, not King Koopa.

I think this reaction was probably a pavlovian reaction to Michael Bay combined with a bit of fear that he's just hiding behind a known property to push an unrelated movie the way Battleship is doing.

 

[Jymm]

True story, when I was going to UMass Amherst I saw the TMNT guys sitting at a table in the comic book store I frequented...and totally ignored them. "Turtles, Ninjas huh!?!? wtf? I'm here to buy old Marvel comics". Hehe if I only knew then what I know now, I would have bought a copy and stashed in a box along with all the old comics I still have now and haven't read since.

 

[hermes]

I wouldn't really mind if they change the "canon" or create a new one for this movies. I just hope he makes a decent job at translating the property in a way that doesn't alienate previous fans (the 2007 CGI movie is a great example).

Then again, this is Michael Bay, so I guess he will just change everything to suit his needs, and everyone knows ninja swords don't create as nice explosions as alien blasters.

 

[unacomn]

I understand. Fandom ruined any sort of cohesion in plot/lore the old Might and Magic universe had. I just think of all the possibilities that could have unfurled, maybe today we wouldn't have that uninspired Ashan to work with.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Or how hypocritical Bob can be, telling fanboys to grow up when he basically whined about the new Green Lantern movie, for something like four episodes.

Bob's big problems with the Green Lantern movie, at least as I remember it, is that the movie itself was bad. Today's video isn't saying that fans need to get over something being bad, but we shouldn't get too hung up on what we understand is "canon." TMNT is used as an example since most fans of the series didn't start with the original comics, and the Saturday morning cartoon and the movies made substantial changes to TMNT lore.

When the movie's released chances are it will be pretty bad on its own right, and if it is I'm sure Bob will be ready to pan it.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I'll openly admit I was introduced to the TMNT franchise through the cartoon series, and through that into the Paladium RPG and through that to the TPB collections of the original series (which began a domino effect of comic book reading and "indy" or underground comics in general.)

That being said I can't say that I really thought of the cartoons as the originals nor the basis for which the characters should be molded. Mainly because I will never understand the weird assumption that a lot of 80's and early 90's entertainment had that the word teenager was synonymous with surfer dude.

I liked the 2003 series a lot because it kept the recognizable leader/nerd/rebel/clown motif but managed to do so in a way that wasn't insulting to anyone's intelligence.

 

[Rad Party God]

My childhood's best friend, me and my cousin were pretty big fans of the turtles back then, I still look at them with nostalgia to this very day, but I'm certainly not very interested in them any longer, it's literally been a decade, if not a bit more, since the last time I watched the movies, heck, I even completely forgot there was a third movie!, I guess it was that crappy for my mind to erase that thing.

I also liked the 2003 series, it got a wee bit ridiculous in the last episodes, but I still liked it.

About Robotnik / Eggman... I don't care. I seriously don't care, it's just a damn dispossable villain with a ridiculous name either way.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Quick question:

How did Robotnik get the name Eggman? I have only played a couple of Sonic games, the last one being Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. I kinda get Robotnik, guys makes robots, its self-explanatory. Eggman? That I never understood. There never seemed anything egg related about him except for his size, and he is more spherical than egg shaped.

Eggman, at least in lore, is the son of Doctor Harold Robotnik. Eggman is basically when they wanted to start to redesign most of the characters and most likely originated out of a pun that Sonic made about Robotniks shape. Then I guess that picked up with Sega and now you have Dr. Eggman.

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Meh, this wasn't to bad. But like others have said, has this show dropped everything for complaining about fans?

Except that Sonic Generations throws that all out the window because "eggman" goes back in time to recruit HIMSELF Robotnik.

 

[daxterx2005]

Bob's not from Brooklyn. He's from Bah-ston.

Actually he's from Boston.

Looks like the only asinine thing around here is me
I always confuse those two, thanks for the correction fellas.

 

[OneTwoThreeBlast]

Hey Bob I got a proposal for you: We'll admit we weren't into the underground comics first when YOU admit you had ZERO understanding of "that other thing mentioned" in last week's episode. Deal?

You won't call him Dr. Eggman for the same reason we won't call that ending Mass Effect.

Holy shit. It took a lot of courage for him to post last week's video on here, regardless of whether or not you agree with his opinion. Do we now have to make non-Mass Effect threads into Mass Effect threads as well, now? Please just stop already. Go create a separate thread like all the other ME3 threads. There are so many already; we don't need people to hijack non-ME3 threads now.

Plus, the two examples aren't in any way similar. ME3's ending was made by the same people, based on the same universe, and incorporated the same characters and elements from the first two. There are no other versions of Mass Effect. There are no preceding comics or other Mass Effect things from other mediums or times. That's it.

 

[Darmani]

Not just Green Lantern but Expendables, Scott Pilgrim, he did an episode about rebooting Sonic, etc.

He can totally complain about fan response and considering the heat he took for adding sketches to his webshow I understand his sympathies but putting himself out there on this really did earn him the oppurtunity to be judged on his character and conduct and consistency.

Overall him complaining about the retake mass effect thing comes off as HIGHLY hypocritical and dubious for someone who felt so opinionated he made THREE webshows about proliferating his opinions. Moreover as he did so as an aside AFTER doing an ep on the retake Mass Effect phenomenon and didn't just, ya know, leave it there.

 

[Furrama]

So, as long as it's what got to you first, it's A-okay and must stay?

Sorry, his name was Eggman. Americans changed it, then it got changed back. The turtles were gritty, then they were dumbed down for younger audiences, then they were less dumbed down for a different series later. Evaluate things on their own merit, not one whether or not you have your nostalgia glasses on. Things will change, they always do. No one will take away your memories, and fanboy rage won't give you your childhood back. Don't knock things down just because they are different; knock them down because they suck.