Current Ramblings
Sunday, February 01, 2004
A great number of things happened today after I stopped gazing lovingly at my GBA SP and actually left the apartment. It's been bone-chillingly cold here the last couple days, and gas has been expensive, so I wanted to limit my toy-hunting. So after one more in a long series of disappointing Wal-Mart trips, Graham and I decided to hit our closest TRU and next-closest Target before heading to Walky's for the Energon premere. That was the jackpot. TRU had the wave-2 Energon basics, Alternators Sideswipe, and two My Little Pony TRU exclusives that I had been looking for. I picked up the ponies and all the basics but Cruellock, who there was only one of. Graham got Sideswipe, but I skipped him because I was already spending so much. Spending so much, in fact, that I knew I was just going to have to put off Anniversary Prime until the next paycheck if I found him. So naturally, that's exactly what I found at Target. Right there on the shelf, the masterpiece, the toy that left me simply moved looking at him in ToyFare, the figure I wanted more than anything...and I really couldn't justify the $70. And he had the grey gun, and I wanted to wait for the black gun anyway...*sigh* But all was not lost, and a quick justification of the purchase of my cell phone later and I was picking him up for Walky. Once we made it to his place I could still spend the evening making lewd comments about it! Yay!
Energon was...really, really good. I might spoil a little here, so you Canucks and those waiting for copies should skip this paragraph. I always expect the first episode of a series like this to have above-average animation, but this was absolutely stunning. If the rest of the series can be even half this good, it will be spectacular. The CG used for the robots not only gives them a proper "other" feel, but it saves them from inconsistant art. Not that that seems to be a real issue, as even the cel-drawn humans were well animated. There are some elements that will clearly have to be explained later, like why Primus has become The Voice in Prime's Head and where he came from, anyway, and what the deal is with the apparently both sentient and generic Omnicons, but nothing leaves me thinking those won't be explained. (Unlike Armada, where a number of things were never satisfactorily explained.) Kicker was immediately recognizable as my beloved Brad Swaile, and he was certainly an interestingly different "kid" character. I loved the flashback to his first visit to Cybertron, with the Autobots as horrifying giant monsters. I see actual development in the future here. Also, I could never tell if Hot Shot was supposed to sound gruffer or if it was just him being really pissed at Kicker. Though if he doesn't start with the character development sometime soon he might start getting on my nerves. He's pretty obnoxious, but in an understandable 16-year-old way. I was floored by their flaunting of Ironhide's vehicle-mode head, at least until I remembered Robots in Disguise's fondness for that sort of thing. That's Japan for you. Strongarm's voice is one I haven't heard before from Scott, which is cool. All in all, it's got a very promising start, and I look forward to next week's episode.
Divebomb is love.
posted@1:22 AM by:Trixter: 0 comments