TV: Transformers Animated Season 3

Transformers Animated Season 3 debuted last week--I'm scrambling to track down the first episode, since my DVR was on the fritz. The show continues to be captivating. I have a bit of a bias, since I'm one of those avid fans. But this show has it all, good animation, good storytelling, well-timed humor and a sense of pace that could ensure two or three more seasons--that is if Hasbro allows a series based on a toyline to have such longevity.

The episode is appropriately titled "Three's a Crowd". I'm not going to do a review that spells out the episode word for word. But I will say that this episode continues to expand the size of the Transformers Animated family, and the ongoing story of the brewing Second Great War that will inevitably come into being.

I will introduce this spoiler, since it is likely to loosely tie into the new Revenge of the Fallen movie...

SPOILER

The new character that comes into being with an Allspark fragment, a forklift and a Headmaster unit is a new third Constructicon by the name of Dirt Boss. Dirt boss is not a character based on a G1 Constructicon, though there is a Revenge of the Fallen figure with the same name, and the same vehicle mode. He adds to the unique flavor of the personalities of the Constructicon group, balancing the goofball, wistling, cackling New York-accented construction worker with the grumbly, slightly sinister, small but hefty Chicago mob boss. He instantly takes control of the group, with a little Three Stooges Moe slapstick. And there's even some potential foreshadowing at the end when Scrapper, Mixmaster, and Dirt Boss find themselves inexplicably entangled with one another...

Do I see a couple more Constructicons joining the entanglement to form the mighty Animated Devestator?

MOVIES: Is Watchmen a bust?

Apparently, the Watchmen movie is considered to have bombed. It is #2 at the box office now in its second week, having made 140.7M worldwide--most of it's budget (boxofficemojo.com). Compared to recent comic book movie box office successes, this comic book movie has flopped. Though Watchmen has a relatively long box office life left, as well as the undoubted success it will claim on DVD, most movie afficionados compare it to movies like Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, the X-Men movies, and Batman: The Dark Knight and it obviously hasn't made the numbers it "should" be making.

Watchmen is rated R, has gratuitous violence, nudity--namely ample flacid penises, and steamy super hero sex. It's in a category all it's own--I suspect many aren't quite sure how to classify it. It's not as kid friendly as the above mentioned movies, and it goes further than the Punisher, Blade, Hell Boy or even Spawn movies. There's no super hero movie that has ventured into the territory that Watchmen has. It's a deep movie, with socio-political and philosophical tones--it's not just eye candy. It has a shelf life, there's more to it than just watching explosions, special effects and sappy acting.

I'll be honest in saying that there were moments where watching exploding bodies and super hero sex was a little over the top for me. But this film is definitely deserving of a re-watch, and my eventual monetary support of the DVD.

Who's the Driving Force of our Economy?

Berni Madoff should be hung. Here it is--the guy sat on house arrest in his penthouse, given plenty of time to funnel his money into offshore Swiss bank accounts (don't get me started about the Swiss, they're up shit's creek with all of this offshore money storing), and it took forever to prosecute him.

Then you had those automotive CEOs flying in their private jets to ask for more bailout money.

Then you had the corruption on Wall Street.

Next, you have AIG execs getting awarded $73 million dollars in retention bonuses (some of them didn't end up staying with the company btw), and this money came out of the bailout money being paid by us the taxpayers.

Are the wealthy driving the economy like many have been arguing for years now?

Uh, no.

The wealthy have been finding ways to protect their money, and benefit from tax cuts, credits and loopholes--eroding the stability of the US economy. Now, they're screaming "socialist" because someone's trying to change the game, and give assistance to the true drivers of the economy--the working class, the Middle Class. If we the Middle Class can't pay our bills and stay out of debt, the economy tanks. Businesses that depend on consumer dollars (which is most businesses) shrivel up and die if there are no consumers. And there's only so many millionaires and billionaires to go around. It's the Middle Class that keeps the thing going.

So if you cut wages, outsource jobs to China, Cuba, Mexico, India and Hell, and you enslave consumers with shady entrapping loans and credit resources, you siphon off the spending power of the all-important Consumer, thus leading to an economic collapse.

Where did I get this economic theory from? Life in the U.S. of A.

POLITICS: Republican Incredibility Part 1

I don't understand. The Republicans, who had maintained control in Congress since 1995 (until they recently lost that control to the Democrats), continue on this rhetoric about the Liberals, the Left-Wingers, the Democrats.

Leading to an almost scandalous series of events that lands the United States of America into a dark, dank, dismal hole that will take several years to dig out of, the Republicans can't point fingers, since they controlled Congress, and held power in the White House during most if not all of this time.

Bin Laden is still out there, multiple billions of dollars have been siphoned to fund an unpopular and misguided war, excessive deregulation "free market" policies have led to gross abuse at the hands of Wall Street, over-inflated corporations, and banks.

How can so many decisions go wrong?

Conservative Rush Limbaugh continues his near-extremist rhetoric about how the Liberals are destroying the country, and how President Obama needs to fail. He proposes that tax cuts are the solution to our present economic calamity. He fails to see or acknowledge how the Conservative approach has put us in a hole, and led to a public perception that the conservative Republicans have fucked it up and can't be trusted.

Tax cuts? That's what the Republicans always say.

1. "We're out of toilet paper!" Give a tax cut.
2. "I lost my job." Give a tax cut.
3. "They just spilled another 3,000 gallons of oil in the ocean." Give a tax cut.

Can we be a little more creative, folks?

Tax cuts work in the ideal world, if all the conditions are right. But they rarely are. The idea is: you give people tax cuts, they have more money to spend, and government cuts back on its spending, thus leading to the stimulation of the economy.

In reality, people DID spend the money from Bush's tax cuts, but very little of it would help stimulate the economy...obviously.

• Financial burdens placed on the Middle Class, along with the stagnation of wages and the rise of unemployment, was helped very little by tax cuts.
• The government has consistently increased spending during the Bush Administration, leading to a rampantly increasing national debt. Tax cuts didn't solve this either.

The Republicans have discredited the Obama stimulus package (without offering any inventive alternative), and the President's approach to getting it passed. But what the President did show was that he can take control, and hold firm to what he believes in, and get a bill passed in record time. President Obama took power in a system where bureaucratic tape is stronger than steel--and this terrifies those serving the status quo.

So you hear all this stuff about how scary Obama's "socialist" views and brute force are, and how this doesn't bode well for American prosperity.

People fear change, and Obama did promise that he was going to bring it. So there are those who will fight it, because they don't understand, and their losing the world they know. But change is necessary and inevitable, especially when it's painfully clear that the status quo is broken.

Come back for Part 2 when I rant about the Bernie Madoffs, Wall Street, and the backwards banks and creditors.

ENTERTAINMENT: The Masters are Making IT

Masters of the Universe, a toy franchise that hit the market back in 1981, still has a presence today. Though its presence is not as strong as another successful, long-living 80s line, i.e. The Transformers, He-Man and his cohorts are finding their way into consumers' hands. MOTU's second climb to fame and success is still at hand, as the potential of the brand is obvious--there is just a need to market the franchise in a way that will make He-Man and the Masters king again.

In an ironic twist, the Transformer line did not appear in the United States until three years after MOTU filled the toy shelves, and then only a year after the He-Man franchise was booming--chiefly due to the success of the cartoon series that debuted in 1983 (MOTU is usually given credit for pioneering an action figure toyline that corresponds with an ongoing cartoon series). At the time, TF was one of the many boy's toy lines that competed for market success, it offered something different--an action figure that presented two modes of play i.e. car and robot etc., and likely wouldn't be compared to He-Man the way another line like Thundercats or Silverhawks would be. Perhaps because of that difference, and indeed Hasbro and Takara's marketing strategy, Transformers would persevere running almost non-stop from 1984 to the present with a steady level of success. MOTU, however, would run from 1981 to 1991 almost non-stop with varying levels of success, and meeting a total demise with the New Adventures of He-Man toyline.

Like many 80s properties, He-Man made an attempt at a come-back--more than ten years after the franchise disappeared from toy shelves, and the entertainment market as a whole. Unlike Transformers, a line that maintained a presence in the boys toy market, as well as the adult collector market, He-Man had to make a come-back, a strong come-back. At a time when competition was fierce, more fierce than it was in the 80s, the marketing ploy had to be one that hit the consumer on multiple levels. Mattel, the toy company that owns the rights to the He-Man franchise, launched a marketing campaign that saw the release of commercials, a cartoon series, a comic book series, and miscellaneous items like partyware, socks, etc. Many argue that the marketing was not invasive enough. The cartoon series, though in many ways innovative and action-packed, somehow was not reaching its audience. In comparison, other brands debuted cartoon series on network television and syndication, hitting a wider audience. Some would even debut on Cartoon Network and air re-runs in syndication, ensuring a massive market coverage. He-Man was exclusive to the Cartoon Network, a cable channel that everyone didn't get.

The action figures of the 2002 Masters of the Universe toyline were beautifully designed and sculpted by the Four Horsemen, a group that is amongst today's top and well-known action figure makers. The line was breath-taking, and when it made its premier at comic-cons and toy conventions in the early 2000's, fans were ecstatic at He-Man's return. Fans had been rooting for his return for years, voicing their desires on websites and forums that eventually merged to become He-Man.org. The 2002 line indeed started with a boom with the toys on shelves, and a television series on Cartoon Network. Eventually, a comic book by MVCreations was released, showing that He-Man was on the up and up. With a second season, and more waves of figures, and statues and bust exclusives, everything was looking good. But then the numbers started pouring in, and He-Man apparently was not performing as well as expected. Yes, the adult collector was ecstatic and avid about the figures, and those expensive busts, but the 4+ year old consumer just wasn't buying it. The line was perhaps too sophisticated, and actually targeted to an older audience, losing the younger demographic.

With a campaign that failed to grab its target audience, Mattel pulled the line back. Though the second season was planned out, and a third season was conceptualized with He-Man's sister She-Ra coming on board, the cartoon was scheduled into the "Oblivion" time slot on Cartoon Network and eventually was cancelled. The toy line was cancelled, and the comic book eventually disappeared as well. Many fans say that the demise of the line was due to Mattel's poor marketing and distribution strategy--not enough advertising of the brand, and too many of the same two or three figures flooding the toy shelves. I experienced multiple times first hand the journey from Walmart to K-Mart to Target to Toys-R-Us to K.B. Toys, all in the same day, only to find the same He-Man and Skeletor variants, and none of the other figures of the rest of the collection.

Despite Mattel's decree, fans were outraged and many online petitions, phone calls and emails followed. The toy company's only answer was to give the Four Horsemen limited power over releasing a line of "staction" figures, statues and busts through NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) that basically keep the franchise afloat. The staction figures were hot order items, some of them going for $80-100 on Ebay because of the demand--off the shelf, one would usually cost around $17. Along with the Four Horsemen's line, BCI Eclipse has struck gold with their ongoing DVD series of the original. The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a DVD set of 10 episodes voted on by the fans, was a smash hit. Winning the 2005 Award for Best 1980s TV DVD Release, the set paved the way for the entire run of the original show on DVD, as well as the She-Ra series, the New Adventures series, and the 2002 Mike Young Productions series. BCI also plans to release other cartoon series created by Filmation (the original He-Man's cartoon studio) thanks to the success of He-Man.

The desire for MOTU products is obvious with the aforementioned success of the Four Horsemen products and the DVDs. Mattel has released the Masters of the Universe Classics line (likely an attempt to replicate the success of Hasbro's Transformers Universe/Classics line). Unlike the retailer-prevalent Transformers Classics, MOTU Classics can only be found on Mattel's exclusive online store (they're playing it safe, gauging to see if producing such a line can prove to be lucrative). Mattel is also banking on the success of a live motion picture coming to theaters near you...hopefully within the next decade. I say if the Transformers can flood the market and conventions with its various products and sophomoric television series (not counting their most recent TF: Animated), and live motion pictures, the same can be done with the one toy line that started it all.

ENTERTAINMENT: Transformers Animated is Back!

The good news has finally come down the pipes: Transformers Animated is back for a third season on Cartoon Network, starting on March 14th. There's been much speculation about the fate of this show--especially with rumors abound that the toy line is coming to a swift close. Transformers Animated was something of a departure, as compared with preceding renditions of the Transformers franchise. Animated sports a very stylized look for its cartoon and action figure lines--most compare the style to the Cartoon Network's successful Teen Titans cartoon series of the early aughts (2000s).

Though the style of the cartoon series took some adjustment, the story and character quality are both vast improvements over the Transformers fodder that aired for almost half a decade before. Animated is indeed a captivating show that does a good job of maintaining core characters, while taking advantage of the vast array of characters and mythology that this franchise has at its disposal.

And the rumors about the toy line being cancelled? There may be some truth to it. Though the figures are very faithful to their cartoon counterparts, the quality of the toys themselves is questionable. I only have four in my collection--and only one of them seems to be durable enough to with stand my manipulation of it--and I'm not that rough. Aside from the possible fragility of the toy line, Animated also has Transformers toy counterparts like the Transformers Universe toyline, and the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie toyline to compete with for shelf space. It seems that retailers are expecting the movie toyline to be super-white-hot with the anticipated success of the film--and with preview shots of figures from the line showing up at major toy shows, and being leaked to the 'net by naughty fanboys, the movie toyline is obviously going to need some room on the shelves. Thus, stores like Walmart and Target are making that room by sacrificing Animated.

Sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing...but as long as they bring back the cartoon, I can miss out on the toys.

PS3: Resistance is Futile

Resistance: Fall of Man, a game title that was released shortly after the debut of Play Station 3, has won the hearts of myself and my closest friends. I consider myself to be a mild gamer at best--having had a hard time switching from the old fashion side-scrollers to the contemporary 360 world.

Yeah, I'm slow.

My Better Half and I got the PS3 for each other for Christmas. My main interest in the console was the Blue Ray feature--a la Dark Knight. But I would soon discover how socially engaging video gaming would be. Mortal Kombat vs DC captivated a number of friends at the onslaught of birthday gatherings that seemed to stack up in the winter months. I received Resistance: Fall of Man for my birthday, and wasn't sure how involved I'd get in it. At first the play seemed to be complicated, and progress proved next to impossible. But it was a matter of getting acclimated to the controls, and playing with friends to get through the game.

I haven't played through a game with the involvement of friends in years--spending hours at one another's homes to assist in progressing through the game. We beat the game (I suspect on easy mode) within a week, and though it was quite an achievement, we were hungry for more. The gameplay was intuitive, and there was a tasteful mixture of the historical and sci-fi elements in the story to keep you going. It was an addictive experience that the four of us hope to experience again...it's a matter of finding the right game.

Resistance 2 didn't prove to be as enjoyable an experience--fortunately we rented it, and demanded an exchange at our local Blockbuster.