tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071749266905309863.post3984654832561884961..comments2023-05-11T03:28:28.655-06:00Comments on The Lair of the Pterobat: Upchuck is Working for the Shredder: Season Three of the 4Kids TMNTPterobathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03393946931686052526noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071749266905309863.post-54857628914011344522012-12-14T12:51:08.094-07:002012-12-14T12:51:08.094-07:00My first thought was that the Karaibot designs wer...My first thought was that the Karaibot designs weren't out of a Heavy Metal cover because a) the censors for this show wouldn't allow that to happen b) Chaplin liked Karai enough that he wouldn't change the design one bit.<br /><br />I never had any strong dislike of Chaplin after his first appearance, it's true<br /><br />Xanatos and Tom's use of Goliath's image isn't the same. Xanatos, while he respects Goliath as an adversary, doesn't revere Goliath the way Tom does. If you simplify it, Xanatos used Goliath's image for the Steel Clan because he was the biggest and strongest gargoyle, while Tom used Goliath's image for his armour because he revered Goliath as a leader and hero. Furthermore, Xanatos "stole" Goliath's image by making a mechanical creature in his likeness, while Tom only wears a removable suit based on Goliath. Both uses of Goliath's image were done without permission, but the intent differs.<br /><br />Chaplin's intention isn't to steal but to revere, obviously, but the sexual undertone makes it creepier than Tom's use of Goliath's image.<br /><br />Yes, the major problem with "The Entity Below" is how quickly it resolves something, and how it leans on the conceit that whatever the heroes do is heroic, only because they've been labelled the heroes: they don't have to prove it by demonstrating the moral high ground. That's a terrible way to write heroic characters, and I'm glad more people seem to be calling out that style, with the "Our Heroes, Ladies and Gentlemen", style comments.<br /><br />Changing the gender of a Turtle would cause fire to rain down from the heavens, obviously, but it does seem like the lesser of two evils in that way. I find it hard to call any character type inherently male or female, so I wonder why they would have picked Mikey to make female? Especially since cartoons are so enamoured with the idea of the female character as the moral centre of the cast.<br /><br />Irma might require "more resources" to add to this underground world, and that's true, but it's sad to think that there won't be a place for more worldbuilding in this series, for giving April a life outside the Turtles, as I said.<br /><br />Heh.<br /><br />I don't take back any of my opinions, just that I still feel a little bit bad for picking on the few members of my gender in a male-dominated series. At the same time, knowing it's my honest opinion is what lets me post it. Same reason why I can be honest about Fred Wolf Baxter but still like him--though in this case, it's also a long tradition of being sharp with my favourite characters when I see faults in them. It's because I want to be honest above all else, I suppose.Pterobathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03393946931686052526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071749266905309863.post-69719811542996906052012-12-14T10:59:59.690-07:002012-12-14T10:59:59.690-07:00Female characters: Just to let you know, I don'...<b>Female characters:</b> Just to let you know, I don't think you have been in any way vicious towards the female characters, even in those cases where we disagree. <br /><br />I was recently told that there may have been a time in the Nick series' development when the creators considered making Michelangelo into a girl. And while the way the show is makes me feel that a bullet was dodged when they decided otherwise, I think that on a purely conceptual basis, making one of the four turtles into a girl is the better way to go, if one is to create a female ninja turtle. Even then there are so many ways something like that could go wrong—unfortunate implications ahoy—that unless it were being handled by someone like Greg Weisman or Pembleton Ward or Lauren Faust, that I'd probably end up fearing the worst. <br /><br />As much as I'd like a new take on Irma from the Nick series, I don't see a way for her to be introduced, given the series' limitations. Unless she's brought down into the turtles' world immediately, establishing a context for her would require more resources than they can spare.<br /><br /><b>Nick Baxter:</b> It went mostly unsaid in my post about the episode, but I like this version of Stockman too, even with the between-episode inconsistencies. If nothing else, he fits the tone of the cartoon better than the Shredder does. I just wish they had established him as competent in his first episode, or that they'd found some way to explain the change (which isn't hard—one could say that the T-Pod somehow integrated part of itself with him and is boosting his brain or some such pseudosciene).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3071749266905309863.post-26914360149794631012012-12-14T10:58:20.987-07:002012-12-14T10:58:20.987-07:00In two parts, since I'm apparently over the ch...In two parts, since I'm apparently over the character limit. <br /><br /><b>Chaplin:</b> Although the parallels to Nick Donatello's crush are rather glaring, I'm more predisposed to be kinder towards Chaplin, and classify him as someone who is awkward rather than a Nice Guy. I think there's definitively an element of fetishism to his infatuation--I don't think he'd be half as interested if she weren't superficially an anime character come to life—but I don't feel that that comprises the entirety of his interest. It helps that this is the only episode where his crush is played in this manner, which allows me to think of his creepiness as something he abandons after it becomes clear that it's unwanted. Perhaps it's the nostalgia talking. <br /><br />As problematic as the Amazonian Blade Bots are in concept—Karai has every right to feel creeped out—the actual execution, I feel, hints at a more nuanced character. Given the direction where the design of a robot based on a woman one is infatuated in could go (three words: metal D-cups's) the near-total lack of sexualization in the actual designs says...something. Plus, given that he also appropriated Baxter Stockman's Mousers, I think a case can be made that in addition to everything else, he's a guy who tends to wear his inspirations on his sleeve, which helps explain (if not justify) them. <br /><br />Something you've made me think about, though. What Chaplin does with the Blade Bots is materially no different than what Xanatos or Tom do with Goliath, and yet its played rather differently in each occasion. There's an essay there somewhere. <br /><br /><b>Karai: </b>I think that what is interesting about the character this season is that, the way I see it, she isn't actually conflicted by her divided loyalties. She thinks she's found a way to square that particular circle—letting her father leave, since there's a better-than-good chance that it'll be centuries before he returns, making him Someone Else's Problem--and so is particularly distraught by the turtles' intervention in the finale. Problem is, she thinks the turtles will and should go for that sort of plan, which is a massive misunderstanding of the turtles' moral code. <br /><br /><b>“The Entity Below”:</b> While the episode isn't one of my favorites, I've always been kind of shocked at how little reaction it gets. This is the episode where the turtle defeat the antagonists by straight-up *killing their entire race*. It places the turtles on a completely different plane from other heroic characters, and it mostly goes unremarked. <br /><br /><b>“The Lesson”:</b> Easily my least favorite episode of the series, and the only one I haven't rewatched since its original airing. What bothers me more is the way it almost completely breaks the timeline, since it's hard to reconcile everyone's ages, particularly when one throw Hun into the mix--his change from a teenager when he burns down the Jones store to an adult when Yoshi is killed suggests a far larger gap between the two than this episode can easily accommodate--either Casey is considerably older than he looks here, or the turtles are considerably younger.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com