Using a completely unrelated icon because I'm cool.
And also because I rather enjoy it. I'll bet when the Decepticons get together and play Brawl, Blackarachnia plays as Peach so she can just parasol herself into the air for like an hour and wait for everyone else to kill each other.
Shockwave always plays Kirby.
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So! TF: Prime review, now that I've actually seen the other three episodes.
I...liked it. Mostly. I kind of feel like I want to like it more because I've seen so much hate for it everywhere else? I don't have the guts to be conrary in real life, okay, just let me be contrary on the internet. Point by point:
1. Can I gush about Arcee for a minute? Because she's one of my favorite things about this series so far, and so far as female characters in Transformers go I think she's kind of a big step. I love that she's tough and sarcastic and battle-hardened, and that she doesn't get stuck being the caring and compassionate one because she's a girl. And I love how hard she kicks ass. I am looking forward to more of this series just for her.
2. ...yeah, as soon as I worked out that someone died in the first two episodes, I figured it'd be Cliffjumper, if only because the Rock would be hella expensive to keep on for a whole series. Still, I figured he'd last longer than that. I mean...wow.
3. In fact, that's one of the things I actually didn't like. Not just Cliff dying - he wasn't there long enough for me to get all that attached to him, although his death was done pretty effectively - I'm not really all that enthused by how seriously this series is taking itself. And I get that that's a personal taste thing, not an objective-quality thing, but I kind of like it better if my cartoons about giant robots from space are a little more tongue-in-cheek, because, really, at the end of the day, they're about giant robots from space. Who turn into semis. And inexplicably speak English, unless it's an import series wherein they inexplicably speak Japanese. And this is all Terribly Serious Business and that means that the human element feels out of place and ill-fitting and I just. I'm not feeling it.
4. And one of the things that I think highlights this problem is Optimus' voice. Don't get me wrong - I quite properly love Peter Cullen, and I think, as far as a performance goes, I can't complain about his Optimus voice. But...well, in G1, he still sounded authoritative and serious and Awesome, but he also still sounded like a person talking, albeit a person talking who you needed to sit up and pay attention to. Here (and even in the movies to a point) Optimus is talking in boldface all the time. It's...more booming and huge and it sounds like every line is being carefully delivered to sound good in the trailer/because he's the only reason fanboys are paying any attention rather than like words being spoken.
...I'M SORRY OKAY. I'm sure that it'll settle into a speaking voice later, and I'm still excited to have Peter Cullen back. Please don't roast and eat me. :(
5. The other place that this problem comes up is with Bulkhead. And yeah, I'm glad we even got a Bulkhead, but...it's not the same if he's not doofy. :( That, and the lighter tone of TFA was what allowed some of the aspects of Bulkhead's character that I really like - the love of art, the secret engineering skill, the having to play big brother to Bumblebee - to emerge. I can't see this Bulkhead painting a Cubist portrait of Miko. (YES, I'm annoyed by that, okay, it was really exciting having a character interested in early 20th century art without dismissing it as garbage, okay, and even more exciting having a character who was both an artist and an engineer.)
6. Okay, enough of my whining. RATCHET. Let's talk about Ratchet and how amazing he is. He is my other favorite thing about this series. He is...like halfway between TFA Ratchet and G1 Ratchet, and he is even more Dr. McCoy than TFA Ratchet is, and he is arch and snarky and the only comic relief in sight and I already ship him with Optimus I hope that's okay.
7. I don't know how I feel about having two characters who don't talk. I do think it works for Soundwave, but I'm suspending judgement on how they'll characterize Bumblebee without any dialogue.
While I was initially annoyed that Soundwave apparently wouldn't be talking at all, by Episode 5 it came across as very creepy and cool, especially given his not-recognizably-human face (whereas everyone else has humanized faces down to the eyebrows). The moment where Miko takes a picture of him and he, inexplicably, takes a picture right back was one of my favorites in the whole five-parter. Also, I am glad to hear that I wasn't the only one who thought this Soundwave was a girl at first. Of course, given that we have no facial, vocal, or body-type cues to go on, I have decided that this Soundwave in fact is a girl. I know Megatron and Soundwave refer to "him" but they're wrong.
8. Speaking of which, OMG OMG MEGATRON. He kind of won me over as soon as he showed up. And his voice is fatastic and just over-the-top enough for a guy with a zombie army. I am so looking forward to more of him. Also, this might be the only continuity yet in which I actively ship Megatron/Optimus instead of just reading it on occasion, because that is the dialogue shippers dream about right there.
9. I...want to like the kids. And thus far, I mostly do - Jack is fairly inoffensive thus far, and I don't care that Raf is a plot device he is tiny and cute and I want to skoosh him. The trouble is with Miko.
I want to like her because she's the Sari Expy of TF: Prime. Love of hard rock, recklessness and refusal to be left behind, absurdly high pigtails...part of it's probably that I'm still bitter that I don't have more Animated, yeah, but it's not fair to resent her for that. I feel bad for finding her a bit annoying when I adored Sari so much, but maybe she'll grow on me.
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I managed to have yet another dream last night involving Toy Story characters having to escape from some sort of horrible scary house or something - I don't even remember if it was scary, I just remember that it was imperative that they get out. And when I woke up that morning the first cogent thought I had was something about Toy Story and zombie apocalypses.
...and now I kind of think I should write something like that. I mean, obviously toys wouldn't become zombies. Seems to me that they'd be the ones to form some sort of society amongst the ruins, especially once the initial sweep of the infection was over. It'd pretty much just be them, and they wouldn't need to eat or sleep or hide as toys or anything. I'm sort of intrigued.
I also wonder why I don't have normal dreams like everyone else.
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Also I just realized that my new computer means that I'm going to have to re-download Witch Hunter, bleh. But on a happier note! futuresoon has pointed me to the trailer and a gameplay demo for the Umineko fighting game. Which I am kind of happy about even if it's never going to make its way to our shores, because really, who wouldn't want to play as Ronove. And also apparently Ange can supplex people as one of her special moves (seen around 2:23), which I know I didn't see coming.
Also, I started thinking about how the fighting game would even fit ito canon, given how metafictive the series is, and given the absence of Bernkastel or Lambdadelta from the roster I have concluded that the fighting game is what happens when Bern and Lambda get bored with their long involved chess games and decide to go play Street Fighter instead. But with people.
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It is 2 a.m. again, why do I keep doing this.