My Thoughts on the Series

[matthooper]

There is nothing wrong with the show's writing, stories or even the action involving Spider-Man, it's the animation of the people. They look rediculous. It's pretty obvious it was supposed to appeal to children. As an adult I simply can't overlook the soul-less eyes and the wacked out proportions.

The animation could have looked like claymation and most of you would still eat it up.

By the way I meant adult fans. I can certainly understand young fans liking the animation. It's similar to other kiddie stuff of today.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

You are mistaking character models for animation.

And who the **** are you to judge what other fans like. We like it, you don't. Get over it. Don't call me a ****ing sheep.

 

[Venom 1988]

Don't call me a ****ing sheep.

I didn't....

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

I didn't....

I didn't say you did.

 

[Venom 1988]

I didn't say you did.

Oh ok lol, i was just confused seeing as i was the only one that said it

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

Oh ok lol, i was just confused seeing as i was the only one that said it

I was replying to Matt Hooper there.

 

[IamProdigy]

There is nothing wrong with the show's writing, stories or even the action involving Spider-Man, it's the animation of the people. They look rediculous. It's pretty obvious it was supposed to appeal to children. As an adult I simply can't overlook the soul-less eyes and the wacked out proportions.

The animation could have looked like claymation and most of you would still eat it up.

By the way I meant adult fans. I can certainly understand young fans liking the animation. It's similar to other kiddie stuff of today.

Funny, I'm 20 and I enjoy the show...so...I guess THIS adult isn't apart of your group that doesn't enjoy the show. And I also over-looked the big eyes since the first episode, it's not a bit deal, because less detail makes it more fluid, and also, the big eyes looks fine in the first episode, so it's not a big issue anymore. Everything about this show I like, even if it's in Kids WB; but it is Spider-Man, which is supposed to, well at least to me, light and "heavenly" as you might say. It's not dark or gothy like Batman, lol.

 

[Venomfan]

He played the True Fan Card. Don't even bother, it's like invoking Hitler... you lose the argument as soon as you do it.

first one under the "I"

 

[Venomfan]

Exactly, This show is mainly for us hardcore fans.

no its not, it is 99% made for kids since they are by far the biggest group of people who watch it

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

no its not, it is 99% made for kids since they are by far the biggest group of people who watch it

If I may quote Greg Weisman from a recent interview:

One of the things my partner Vic Cook has pointed out is that—and I’ve got no figures to back this up, but it sounds right to me—is that there was a time when comics were for everyone. When comics sold in the millions of issues. And that meant that you weren’t just selling to little kids and you weren’t just selling to soldiers in World War II, but this was something that everybody read. And I do see a lot of stuff on the Internet where even the people who like the show are saying, “Well, considering it’s a show made for kids” or “Considering it’s a show made to sell toys” or whatever, “You know, it turned out pretty good.” That kind of thing. Always with these caveats, and the thing is, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a show made for kids but not just for kids. It was never intended to be a show that worked only for kids, and all one has to do is look at other stuff I’ve done—again, the obvious one being Gargoyles. We always wrote these shows on multiple levels so that, yeah, there was plenty of eye candy and fun—humor, great action, stuff that kids would appreciate—but also there was always stuff there for a larger audience. For not just kids but tweens, not just tweens but teens, not just teens but college students, not just college students but adults. Not just boys but girls as well, men and women. And in this show in particular, not just the novice who has only seen Spider-Man 3 or maybe has seen none of [the movies], and this is their first Spider-Man. But we like to think, since we’re such huge, massive Spider-Man geeks ourselves—those of us making this show—that this is a show that big-time, hardcore Spider-Man fans are going to like, too.

 

[Venomfan]

If I may quote Greg Weisman from a recent interview:

oh i have no doubt that it is also made for fans, just mostly for kids since thats where the real money is. the amount of characters they have put in the show that have had like 1 appearence in the comics is a testament to that

 

[Venomfan]

I can certainly understand young fans liking the animation. It's similar to other kiddie stuff of today.

i bet if given a choice they would still prefer 90's TAS looking character models

 

[Joker]

Not for the real fans?

Then what do you call the subtle homages to Ditko/Romita's visuals, and the fact that not one new character has been created for the show?

If the producers didn't give a **** about the show, they'd create a bunch of new characters. This stuff is for the real fans and newcomers alike.

Not a single new character? Generic blonde cheerleader girl, big black jock guy, big bald white jock guy...want me to keep going?

 

[Joker]

You are mistaking character models for animation.

And who the **** are you to judge what other fans like. We like it, you don't. Get over it. Don't call me a ****ing sheep.

The character models are a big part of the animation. Yes, we all know that animation in the strictest sense reffers to the actual movement of the characters. But for simplicities sake, we reffer to all the visuals as "the animation." If you dont understand that, you're the slow one here, not us.

And if you like the show, great. I'm happy you can take joy in any terrible bulls**t they feed to you. I on the other hand cant. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be able to sit down and go "wow, I was wrong, this all looks alot better in motion than the stills I saw." But it doesnt, and I cant. It's just more of the same watered down, poorly drawn crap that studios seem to be shoveling out to kids these days.

If the reason for the animation looking like it does is the budget, maybe the problem is the studios giving them such a small budget, because they figure that kids are all stupid, and f**k the fans, because they want to keep it as cheap as possible. I'd rather have no series than one that is being screwed over for a quick buck.

And even if that's not the case, it doesnt really matter. Whatever way you look at it, however you want to justify the characters looking like they do, it doesnt matter. Because at the end of the day, they still look terrible. This is a fact. It's not an opinion. They hardly even resemble humans. They're blocky, have eyes bigger than there mouths, squiggly lines for noses, and are all gangly. It's BAD. Rob Leifeild bad.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

Not a single new character? Generic blonde cheerleader girl, big black jock guy, big bald white jock guy...want me to keep going?

1. Sally Avril. She was in the comics.
2. Randy Robertson. He was in the comics.
3. Kenny Kong. He was in "Ultimate Spider-Man"

 

[Joker]

THAT's supposed to be Kong? Wow, they may have named him after Kong, but he's NOTHING like Kong from USM. Kong from USM is alot brighter than that guy, who's big moment was helping with Flashs master plan of throwing some water balloons. Which, by the way, would be a really mean thing to do if this were the 50's.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

And even if that's not the case, it doesnt really matter. Whatever way you look at it, however you want to justify the characters looking like they do, it doesnt matter. Because at the end of the day, they still look terrible. This is a fact. It's not an opinion. They hardly even resemble humans. They're blocky, have eyes bigger than there mouths, squiggly lines for noses, and are all gangly. It's BAD. Rob Leifeild bad.

Ronald Reagan was the fortieth President of the United States is a fact.
This looking terrible is an opinion. This looking good is an opinion.

See the difference?

 

[Joker]

No, it's not. There's no sense of anatomy, even in the slightest. The faces dont look human. It's hard to tell who is supposed to be who without them spelling it out (I didnt even know Flash was Flash until they said his name). Art does have standards by which it can be graded on. And using those standards, this fails.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

No, it's not. There's no sense of anatomy, even in the slightest. The faces dont look human. It's hard to tell who is supposed to be who without them spelling it out (I didnt even know Flash was Flash until they said his name). Art does have standards by which it can be graded on. And using those standards, this fails.

And who decides those standards? You?

I think I'll let the guy with the Stamford/Oxford Ivy League education who's running this show be a more qualified judge. That is sarcasm, but seriously. It's called stylization.

Who elected you to be the guy who decides the difference between opinion and fact? Scan the letter from Oxford and Webster's.

Words mean what they mean, not what you want them to mean.

 

[Ratcrawler]

Kong's a nickname, I think his last name is Harlan.

i bet if given a choice they would still prefer 90's TAS looking character models

I certainly don't. I think they actually looks sillier in the 90s toon. Think about it, if you're going to have grown men dressing like brightly colored animals and whatnot, it's easier to not laugh at it if they look less "real worldly".

 

[Joker]

That's a stupid argument. The majority of comics are drawn semi-realistically at least, and no one laughs at them. No one is laughing at Jim Lees Batman, or Alex Ross and Gabrielle Del'Ottos super-realistic work. In fact, they're all lauded as being some of the best artists in comic books ever. Along with Kirby, who they claim this show is paying homage to, even though his style was very realistic comparitively.

 

[Sarcastic Fan]

That's a stupid argument. The majority of comics are drawn semi-realistically at least, and no one laughs at them. No one is laughing at Jim Lees Batman, or Alex Ross and Gabrielle Del'Ottos super-realistic work. In fact, they're all lauded as being some of the best artists in comic books ever. Along with Kirby, who they claim this show is paying homage to, even though his style was very realistic comparitively.

You mean Steve Ditko.

And the fact is, you can't get good animation with detailed models like that unless you have the budget of a Disney movie. The 90s series could have never gotten the movement like Spidey vs the Lizard in the subway in the most recent episode, without paying at least $1 Million for the episode. Which never happens with ANY animated series.

This is not a comic book. It's a cartoon. If you don't know the difference between still images, and moving images, you have just proven that you are unqualified to continue this debate.

 

[Joker]

Justice League was able to do quick fight scenes, with character models that still looked human. So that argument doesnt hold any water either. I'm not complaining about the lack of detail. I'm fine with that. Batman TAS-JLU proved that you dont need alot of detail. The problem is the giant eyes, the blocky characters, and the entire aesthetic of the design is just painful to look at.

And I was not saying that comics and animation were the same. He said that people would laugh at realistic looking figures dressed as animals and such. I was saying that they are usually drawn realistically in the comics and no one laughs. No one laughed at the movie, which WAS people dressed like that. So that was a moot point. If you didnt get that, then maybe you're not qualified to continue the debate, as you have no comprehension skills.

 

[CHEZ]

Marvel seems to function like, as long as [a Spider-man cartoon] is out there, it's good enough. They don't want to spend the money on quality production. But are happy with small change and small success.

The design is cheap, the animation is cheap and that is incredibly unfortunate because these characters deserve so much more.

It's strange, as cheap as the show is, I still enjoy it to some degree. Maybe because I love the character so much that I am willing to look beyond the poor quality.
But this has been a problem for so many years now, I want to scream "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"

If Marvel wants to be a hit with kids--it needs to spend the money to create something ground breaking--or at least original. This cheap level of animation and design will never make the impact it needs to bring Spider-Man into the forefront of all the competition.
As it stands right now, it's playing in the safe zone for small success but in the end will disappear and become forgotten, and Spider-Man doesn't deserve that. Every time they come out with a new version of a Spider-Man cartoon it's always got some kind of problem. It's always missing the mark. It runs for a short time and then goes to dvd and that's it. Then they go right back and pump out another poor animated production. It's a continuous cycle.

They really desperately need to quit being so scared to take the risk to spend big on great quality design and animation. This goes for all of it, including their Ultimate Avengers, Iron Man, Doctor Strange direct-to-dvd releases.
They are so poor that they defeat the purpose.

Look at Pixar.
Pixar takes something completely unknown, spends outrageous amounts of money to produce it, puts it in theaters and everyone flips out. "Wow! Did you see that Incredibles movie? It was amazing!"
Why, can't they do something on that level with our favorite Marvel characters?
Why haven't we seen something from Marvel on the level of Beowulf?


Quit trying to compete with Anime and Manga by copying them or trying to be similar, but spend to create a style of animation that blows them all away.


It's TIME for them to make it happen, and quit sitting idly by as everyone else does it and everyone else is parading in all the success.

 

[Havok83]

Anyone else that they made Gwen into a nerd type? I thought she should have been portrayed as one of the beautiful and popular girls in school