Advanced Dark said:
WTF is wrong with some of you. Does every Marvel released cartoon have to appeal to your age bracket. Marvel just released the feature film and a sequel is on the way, not to mention all the other movies, and the PG-13 animated lions gate films. You have to realize Marvel is also trying to make new fans and they can't be marketing PG-13 material to 6 year olds. They must target some projects to the younger audience and that doesn't mean you have to watch it or critque it as if it's meant for you to view or as if every product should be for all ages. That's not very smart business sense if they did that.
Okay, let's talk "business sense."
I don't expect it to be aimed at my "age bracket." That's ridiculous. (About as ridiculous as today's average comics reader being a 27-year old male
) They can aim the damn thing at 2 year olds for all I care; I
want kids to love these characters, too.
It's this bastardized execution that disturbs me. Changing the uniforms so drastically is just flat-out stupid. From a marketing perspective, it makes
zero sense. Marvel's supposed to be solidifying a new franchise, a new brand. But just when the world has barely come to recognize the familiar blue uniforms, these idiots go and
change those same uniforms for no apparent reason. And spray painting a "4" on the Thing? WTF indeed.
I wouldn't even mind the lame anime look so much,
if it was a stylistic interpretation of the classic FF look. That's
not what they've done here.
Superman wears a red cape. Batman has pointed ears on his mask. Spider-man is red and blue. These are things you just don't screw with; not if you expect your characters to take hold in the public's minds and endure for over half a century.
Changing costumes is something they can do in the comics with little effect because a.) It's
always a temporary thing and b.) A very insignificant number of people read comics nowadays. Statistically they may as well not even exist. Millions worldwide have seen the FF movie and -eventually- millions worldwide will see this new cartoon. But scarcely more than 100,000 people (if it's still that many) read the actual FF comic, or any other comic. That's so pathetically miniscule (compared to the
million-selling comics of the 40's) that publishers have to "shake things up" with costume changes and other nonsense out of desperation, just to keep their tiny readerships from dwindling further.
Even I can see where some "re-imagining" has helped make the new Batman cartoon series more interesting to many fans. But let's face it, the Joker is a
very well-established character, very recognizable, even in his new funky form on "The Batman." But you
don't see them screwing around with the actual
Batman much, do you? You don't see him sporting a snazzy orange cape in any of his cartoon or film incarnations, do you? Of course not. Because Warner Brothers understands the value of maintaining their characters' visuals. They're practically etched in stone, and for good reason. For crying out loud, I think President Bush Sr. had to sign a bill into law that would allow Robin to wear long pants.
And I still can't fathom how the rubber Bat-nipples ever got onscreen, but I think most of us agree now that it was a terrible, terrible mistake. Any fan who caught George Clooney's interview a few weeks ago had to be gritting their teeth.
Admittedly, nothing could be worse than the Thing's "Clobberin' Time" rap in that godawful 1994 FF cartoon. And I'm certainly hoping for better than that with this new series.
But drastic changes to basic character designs is a foolish move.
That's just
my opinion. I
could be wrong.
But I really doubt it.
Now if it were at night that would be a different story...
