Yamato (aka new Star Blazers movie) trailer
June 20, 2009
If the movie is as boring as the trailer, then I think I won’t even grab it in the $1.00 VHS section of Good Will. I guess Yoshinobu Nishizaki got a hold of the rights to make the movie. I got all excited until I saw the trailer.
Here is the Star Blazers I remember:
Yes, the music has cheese all over it! Yes, the animation is bad! But notice how stuff is actually happening! Characters are doing things, the Yamato is blasting foolz! It has excitement that pulls you in.
Star Blazers is the first anime I remember watching. That was in the early to mid 1980’s. I recall being really, really interested in the characters. It was like a space soap opera for kids. The battle ship in space, Yamato was pretty damn slick.
But the new stuff is Yamato. A Japanese flick that looks as boring as hell. But hey I’ve been wrong before, man.
Everybody has there own opinion:
The way the article is written just sounds like sour grapes. What else did he expect from a Star Blazers movie? Wild Star looks too clean cut? He never had facial hair, and his hair is still long and messy. Suit redesign? It’s not redesigned much. The story was always about the Yamato saving the day, using the wave motion gun to destroy the enemy. I don’t want a soap opera between Wild Star and Nova with some mild fighting cut in. I think this is going to be good. – Kronos6948
Popularity: 7% [?]
Ode To Optimus Prime
June 12, 2009
So the second installment in the Transformers revamps is almost upon us. Are you psyched about it? I know I am (IMAX here I come, baby). Back when I was growing up, I was always drawn to the leader figures in the shows I watched and Optimus Prime is the leader I always remember the most fondly. Thanks to the FCC lifting that pesky regulation in the 80’s that prohibited the production of cartoons that promoted toy lines, we all got to witness the first installments of the Transformers animated cartoon series. Oh and how I, as a little girl longing for something with substance, rejoyced watching these robots kick Decepticon tail every week. I even conned my parents into buying me the Optimus Prime toy. They gave me strange looks as I passed up Barbies with frilly dresses for my Mack truck Autobot but they didn’t understand. I think my mother still shakes her head at my hobbies, habits, and addictions but that’s a story for another time.
Optimus Prime, though… what a leader he was. He always looked out for the humans of Earth (something I have to commend the movie makers of today for keeping in his character) and was always ready to put his life on the line to keep his own people safe. When the first Transformers movie came out I was ecstatic! Well… I was ecstatic up until Optimus Prime died in the line of duty. I seriously think the rest of the movie was a bit of a blur to me for years, having to watch Hot Rod take the mantle in this perpetrated production that was supposed to be a passing on of the mantle.
Sorry, Rodimus Prime fans; I seriously have no love for that particular leader in the Transformers franchise.
When the first Transformers movie hit the big screen, I was there on opening night, watching in awe as Optimus Prime re-appeared in all his awesome glory (and good Lord can Steve Jablonsky compose the best music ever, complete with a chorus of angelic singers heralding the way for the best leader in cartoon history). Once that movie hit DVD I watched it over and over (and over) again in a patented addictive fashion. I still have much love for the series’s origins, those wonderful 80’s cartoons of my youth, but to see my childhood favorites get full CG renderings that are awe inspiring in their own right gave me hope for possible 80’s franchises remaking their special creations to enjoy in a whole new light.
But yes, I’ll be going to see Transformers 2 when it hits and I’ll be taking my family with me. I’ll be hoping that Optimus makes it through another movie and hoping to never see Hot Rod hit the big screen. When that time comes, I might have to watch through parted fingers and hope my poor childhood hero doesn’t meet a similar fate again. Just remember, boys and girls, where your fandoms came from, and remember to root for Optimus Prime when he makes his second big screen appearance!
Popularity: 5% [?]
Military’s version of the He-man Attack Track
May 31, 2009
U.S. Defense Department Ripsaw MS1 by Howe and Howe is a large UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) that seems to be able to over just about anything.
Ok. I guess the UGV doesn’t look that much like the He-Man Attack Track. Once I found a picture of it I realized that it is not at all like I remember. Its still cool though.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Jem and the Holograms
May 29, 2009
I swear, I went researching all the links and content here and found only ONE reference to Jem and the Holograms and the link to the picture (and the site taken from) doesn’t even work anymore. Fail.
Now look. I was one of those girls that loved Transformers (G1, all the way) and G.I. Joe just as much as the next person did, but I will ALWAYS have a spot for Jem and the Holograms. It was the first show that was really geared towards girls (and not in that cutesy Strawberry Shortcake or Care Bears way) and gave me all the things I loved about the first two I mentioned while catering to my girly needs. Don’t buy it? Sit down and watch some of those old episodes. They had music, drama, fashion, action… Jem had it all. Jem and the Holograms also opened my eyes to multicolored hair… much to my mother’s dismay.
Jem was a must watch show for me. Music has always been a fueling point of my creativity and there was always at least one to two songs guaranteed per episode. And there were, at any given time, two bands to choose from! When the Stingers came into play later in the seasons that was just three times the awesome (not to mention the new possible love triangle for Jem… who really needed to be more honest with Rio. Just saying.)
Yes, I’m smart enough to realize that the acting and animation weren’t always the best, but they made characters that grew on you and put them in situations you could sympathize with. As the title song said, Jem had “glamour and glitter, fashion and fame”. Above all else, Jem really embodied the 80’s without being too overwhelming with the negative aspects of the decade (the overindulgence, drug use, and the list goes on and on). It’s something I can send my kids to (and they roll their eyes at me) when I want them to know what the 80’s was about from an entertainment perspective.
So yes. Jem and the Holograms. Go educate yourself on this awesome 80’s show while I figure out how to add actual Jem content to this site. I swear… the lack of Jem content here depresses me.
Popularity: 5% [?]
The Wisdom of G.I. Joe PSAs
October 21, 2008
This never gets old. I decided that it was time to unleash the wisdom of G.I. Joe.
Do you know why, 80’s kids?.. because I care. I care about you. These G.I. Joe Public Safety Announcements are timeless and telling of the spirit of this age. I think if more kids would have taken heed to the messages of GI Joe, we would have a different world right now.. Maybe there would not have been a “War on Drugs”. Maybe Ronald Reagan would not have won that election. Maybe we would not be Saudi Arabia’s oil Bitch. Maybe ThunderCats would not have ever ended.
Popularity: 11% [?]
The 10 Most Insane, Child-Warping Moments of ’80s Cartoons
March 25, 2008
Toplessrobot.com created an awesome list of the terrible 80’s Cartoon images that should not have been shown to children. Sadly, neither animators or Ronald Reagan gave a shit about us 80’s kids. The topless list missed one of the greatest and most trouble enigma’s of hideously inappropiate cartoon history. Ladies and gentlemen I submit to you.. Tranzor Z:
(in spanish - but you’ll get the idea.. its screwed up)
The ‘80s were supposed to be a harmless time for toys and the cartoons that sold them. In spite of this, cartoons sometimes snuck in certain moments that were clearly designed to break impressionable minds and pervert the youth of America. Here are the 10 worst.
Popularity: 5% [?]
80s Game/Cartoon: anime Mario
June 26, 2007
Popularity: 8% [?]
30 minutes of 80’s cartoon Openings
June 17, 2007
Thanks pembrokewkorgi
Popularity: 6% [?]
A Pup Named Scooby Doo (and other lame 80s cartoons)
September 9, 2006
My daughter loves “A Pup Named Scooby Doo” and almost every other cartoon on Boomerang. As I watch it, I realize how many very aweful cartoons I watched as a kid. I’m not talking about cultural phenoms like transformers, or Thundercats or even G.I. Joe (which is actually pretty bad when I watch it now).
I am talking about the following:
A Pup Named Scooby doo
Mr. T (cartoon)Chuck Noris (cartoon)
M.C. Hammer (cartoon)
Ghost Busters (not to be confused with the “Real Ghost Busters” which was awesome, this one was based on some 70’s CBS show of the same name)
courtesy of tvacres
If you are going to sit there and tell me that these cartoons weren’t that bad, you are a flippin’ LIAR! You’re the worst kind of liar, the kind that lies to themselves!
Dear Liar,
Stop lying to yourself.
Signed, 80sfreak
Many 80’s cartoons are very, very bad. The Smurfs, the Snorks, even classics like My Little Pony, the Carebears and others are horribly, horribly written and repitious enough to make you hang your head in shame.
I’m not saying that the concepts weren’t good. Some really speak for themselves because the merchandizing, remakes and movies are still selling 20 years later. But just look at a cartoon like a Pup Named Scooby Doo and a cartoon like Catscratch. The art on a Pup Named Scooby Doo is THE laziest work I have EVER seen (outside of some of the garbage on Adult Swim which is done that way intentionally). It is almost like it was animated out of contempt for the viewers of such complete stupidity.
Ralph Bakshi pointed out the bad quality in his Ren & Stimpy Adult Party DVD. He mentions that there was such a lack of quality in 80s (North American) animation that animators HATED their jobs and literally burned scripts as a joke.
Popularity: 5% [?]
CGI test footage of Optimus Prime transforming
May 17, 2006
http://www.blackfilm.com/20060512/features/transformertest_video.shtml
Lookin' great Optimus.. but can your break dance?
Popularity: 9% [?]
