Forum - View topic

The Mike Toole Show - Poke-Matic

I grew up with Pokemon, but slowly moved away from it.

I have fond memories of Indiago league and the first generation or two, but after that, I just couldn't stick with it. So many stupid Pokemon were created, from the giant nose to the frozen ice cream cones.

And Ash/Satoshi never changed. Never. Oh, yes, there was some 'character development', but how did that really change the series? What's so different about it now than a few years ago? They're still fighting in leagues and championships, still escaping the bad guy, still winning 99.9% of the fights, and Butterfree still hasn't been visited.

I can understand Pikachu never evolving because he's such a mascot. I can even understand Ash never aging because the target audience needs to identify with him and he can't really be replaced by a new character. But there are ways to mix it up and remove the repetitive nature of the show, at least for a season or two.

I grew up with Pokemon, but slowly moved away from it.

I have fond memories of Indiago league and the first generation or two, but after that, I just couldn't stick with it. So many stupid Pokemon were created, from the giant nose to the frozen ice cream cones.

And Ash/Satoshi never changed. Never. Oh, yes, there was some 'character development', but how did that really change the series? What's so different about it now than a few years ago? They're still fighting in leagues and championships, still escaping the bad guy, still winning 99.9% of the fights, and Butterfree still hasn't been visited.

I can understand Pikachu never evolving because he's such a mascot. I can even understand Ash never aging because the target audience needs to identify with him and he can't really be replaced by a new character. But there are ways to mix it up and remove the repetitive nature of the show, at least for a season or two.

RestlessOne wrote:

I grew up with Pokemon, but slowly moved away from it. I have fond memories of Indiago league and the first generation or two, but after that, I just couldn't stick with it. So many stupid Pokemon were created, from the giant nose to the frozen ice cream cones. And Ash/Satoshi never changed. Never. Oh, yes, there was some 'character development', but how did that really change the series? What's so different about it now than a few years ago? They're still fighting in leagues and championships, still escaping the bad guy, still winning 99.9% of the fights, and Butterfree still hasn't been visited. I can understand Pikachu never evolving because he's such a mascot. I can even understand Ash never aging because the target audience needs to identify with him and he can't really be replaced by a new character. But there are ways to mix it up and remove the repetitive nature of the show, at least for a season or two.

I agree for the most part. Frankly I think the show should have let him win a least ONE league tournament by this point (specifically the Sinnoh league since the D/P series had the best development of him as a trainer). It;s not like him winning a tourney would mean we no longer have a reason to follow him. His goal was to be the GREATEST pokemon master. At least let him get part of the way to the master bit. It;s not like he couldn;t stop developing.

And Ash/Satoshi never changed. Never. Oh, yes, there was some 'character development', but how did that really change the series? What's so different about it now than a few years ago?

I agree for the most part. Frankly I think the show should have let him win a least ONE league tournament by this point (specifically the Sinnoh league since the D/P series had the best development of him as a trainer). It;s not like him winning a tourney would mean we no longer have a reason to follow him. His goal was to be the GREATEST pokemon master. At least let him get part of the way to the master bit. It;s not like he couldn;t stop developing.

And Ash/Satoshi never changed. Never. Oh, yes, there was some 'character development', but how did that really change the series? What's so different about it now than a few years ago?

Having him win the tournaments seems fairly Hollywood "sunshine and rainbows" ending. It's more realistic for him to lose since it's been established there's far stronger trainers than him out there in the world. Heck, a lot of people got angry Hikari placed second in the Grand Festival. I'd hate to see how mad they'd be if Satoshi actually won the Suzuran Conference.

How can there be far stronger trainers if he's gone to ALL FIVE Pokemon continents and gotten the all the badges from four of them?

Medabots



Based on the second of a series of RPGs by Imagineer this series was directed by Tensai Okamura, who'd go on to do some good things. It follows the story of Ikki Tenyrou, a young boy infatuated by robot companions that battle. Unfortunately for him, his parents want him to work off the price of a Medabot, and won't chip in any funding. This leaves Ikki without a Medabot for some time, until his friends need his help. The problem is he could only afford the oldest, cheapest piece of junk he could find. But lucky for Ikki, he may have found a piece of junk, but it's a special piece of junk.

I've been rewatching Medabots recently, and surprisingly it's still a good show. There's something a lot more endearing about the characters here than in others. I think it's because Medabots isn't a story played straight. There's a certain tongue and cheek almost parody-esque nature to it, but it also can become very serious. I'd refer to it as a Gintama in kind of tonne, though there aren't tonnes of pop culture references or something.

The animation for the series is also pretty good. I'd be willing to say it's one of the only things Bee Train has animated that has a fps rate above 2, haha.

Nelvana's dub for it is also one of the better ones produced in Toronto. It starts off a bit rough, and it's obviously not a high budget affair, but the cast members get into their roles, and it feels like they're having fun, and it's hard not to have fun watching this series.

The problem is the sequel series. Medabots Spirits is kind of horrible. It attempts (and I mean attempts) to adapt the third RPG but takes a considerably more serious approach. It drops a lot of the cast from the first series, nerfs Ikki and Metabee, while introducing considerably worse animation by Production I.G. Yes, Production I.G. produced worse animation than Bee Train. This was surprising to me too. Lucky, the first Medabots series has a very conclusive ending, so you can ignore the existence of Spirits.

The overall Medabots franchise turns 15 this year (the first RPG was released in 1997), and I actually have one of the few English fansites out there.

doctordoom85 wrote:

Monster Rancher was a solid show, if you like Digimon Season 1 then you'd probably enjoy this one as well. I just wish they had brought Season 3 over here, because the ending of Season 2 spoiler[was too depressing with the main kid being separated from the others.]

Season 3 was dubbed.

Divineking wrote:

I agree for the most part. Frankly I think the show should have let him win a least ONE league tournament by this point (specifically the Sinnoh league since the D/P series had the best development of him as a trainer). It;s not like him winning a tourney would mean we no longer have a reason to follow him. His goal was to be the GREATEST pokemon master. At least let him get part of the way to the master bit. It;s not like he couldn;t stop developing.

No matter how good you are at something, someone is always better than you.

Having him win the tournaments seems fairly Hollywood "sunshine and rainbows" ending. It's more realistic for him to lose since it's been established there's far stronger trainers than him out there in the world. Heck, a lot of people got angry Hikari placed second in the Grand Festival. I'd hate to see how mad they'd be if Satoshi actually won the Suzuran Conference.

When I showed Summer Wars at my anime club, I instantly thought that it was exactly like Digimon the Movie, even though I hadn't seen it for years. Its just that much of a rip-off. I also thought the artwork style was eerily similar at first, since I couldn't confirm it at the time.

That Pokemon Special manga got the right idea.