Mar 31, 2012

HEy What The!? a Twins Sequel!?

Hollywood must be smoking something more powerful than the wacky Tobaccky cause they're planning on making a Sequel to Twins... Really Hollywood? Really? a Third Brother... a Solidus!?

The movie was not bad, but I just don't see how they can make a sequel with a "long lost third brother"...
Especially since the third brother is none other than...

Eddie Murphy... WOW! Either they ran out of "Fat suits" in Hollywood or Martin Lawrence is Doing Big Momma 4... To the internet!!
Whew! he is not doing Big Momma 4, but he IS doing Bad Boys 3... BOOM! MICHAEL BAY!!

So, Eddie Murphy is the Third brother...Probably with the perfect combination of traits and not the extremes as seen with his "brothers" played by Arnold and DeVito?

Now is it bankable to use Eddie Murphy? Mr. Norbit/Pluto Nash/Beverly Hills Cop 3?

There's no writer(s) or Director... This should stay in Development Hell and Bump the HE-Man movie out of it... I mean, seriously...

I dunno what bums me out more... not getting my very first Sorceress and my MOTUC Fisto or this...

Mar 29, 2012

Action Figure Woes: Digital River and Mattel Their Killen teh Lien?

Ah Matty, Matty, Matty! You make it so easy to complain about!! The thing is that I wish I didn't have anything to complain about!
This is not a QC issue like Backwards shoulders, double right legs, or exploding crotches.
This is not a Stylistic complaint like a request for "Anime Hyperdetailed" weapons or alternate heads, or more detail for the PoP toys...
This is regarding the whole Digital River issues and How they have a negative effect on Customers.
Let's start with the whole site issues:

T
here is no clear Log-in section.
Having to go to the order history option to Log on to the site is a bit off-putting. Newer Customers get lost (especially on the Matty-Day Scrambles)

The Refresh Screen Dance.
OK, so you figured out how to Log on and now you selected your Item...
Then you see the...

White Screen of Death... you wait, wait, wait, wait... Clock is ticking Twilight... CLOCK... IS... TICKING!!
You finally made it through... Surprise! That MOTUC Figure you wanted has sold out!
If you were "Lucky enough" and made it through, you confirmed the shipping info, Card info, fought the Re-Captcha, and got your Order number and checked your e-mail to verify if you got the confirmations (order and shipping)... Now the Waiting game...

You did not choose UPS as your shipping option... Either you did not find the shipping options while making a mad scramble to submit your order, or you can't have your items sent by UPS (Items sent to a PO Box or whatever.) Well, you're ready for a new treat!! NEWGISTICS!!

The Newgistics MOTUC USA Tour From California To Sparks, Nevada, then the figs go off randomly... kinda like Traveling Indiana Jones Style, but trying to touch as many US States as randomly as possible...

And after it has touched as many states as possible until it reaches your destination (if in Continental US) or it braves the Atlantic
BEFORE Reaching your destination
(If International or really unlucky.) The Continental US Customers are slightly luckier, cause they can see their Package Tour... International customers are screwed...

Now we play: The Waiting Game. So, You're an International Fan... That means that the waiting is longer... Ever since the change to Newgistics the time that packages took to arrive from Mattel to my PO Box has become extremely random... Take for example in November 2010
My Matty Package of 2 King Grayskulls, Grizzlor and Weapons Pack #2 Took Roughly 10-12 days to arrive. (On Thanksgiving WEEK)
Now take July 2011: I ordered Clawful and he arrived around the 3rd-4th day of August...
Roughly 12 days... Not bad, but Things took a turn for the worse in October.
Items began taking roughly a Month to show up! My September Items arrived the very same day of the October Matty Sale... My Battleground Evil Lyn Arrived in Late January, roughly around the January Sale Date. So did Demo-Man (who was shipped in January due to the Demo-Man Delay) and arrived in February (a Few days after the Feb. Sale)... So, these delays cause the customers to call Customer Service to start the process in case the items are lost. In some cases the customers have to e-mail CS instead due to international calls being expensive (cause when DR keep the customers on hold, they KEEP THEM ON HOLD for a LONG, LONG Time...)
Well, if you do too many inquiries regarding your order(s) this happens:
Dear Customer,

Thank you for your inquiry to Mattycollector.com's customer service.

Please be aware that your request has alerted our security protection
department due to the extremely high number of requests for replacement
products from your account. Everyone here at Mattycollector.com strives
to do our best to ensure only the best product reaches our customers.

Because of the high number of replacement requests you have submitted,
your account has been flagged as a possible security risk. If you are
not receiving product ordered from Mattycollector.com on a regular
basis, we suggest you use a traceable shipping method such as UPS to
track your package and be aware of when it will be delivered. Due to the
high volume of requests for replacement product from your account we
will no longer be able to replace product for you. We will be unable to
reship the orders you have requested.


Thank you.

Matty Collector Customer Service


Now, My February Items are MIA... and since I have called CS because previous Items were taking too long, I'm kinda screwed... but not just by DR... MATTEL is also screwing International fans as well with the lower production runs (which means less stock for CS to solve these issues or to get replacement if Items are Defective)...
This is JUST the Cherry Pickers... Subscribers had a different can of worms to open... (in addition to these issues)

The whole Star Sisters Card Charge Sub-Cancelling Nightmare:
The 30th Anniversary of MOTU has brought forth a bunch of issues. Figures had to be switched around due to issues and on January the item was The Sorceress (a $20 Item for Subscribers and $22 for Cherry Pickers) who was delayed. The Star Sisters (a $60 Item for Subscribers and $66 for Cherry Pickers) was bumped to January. This forced Mattel to do a McGyver and split the cost of the Subscribers' Star Sisters in two payments. (Mostly due to issues with the Subscription contract that the first charge would be a $20 Charge.)
Well The First Payment went OK... When the second $40 payment was going through... All Hell broke loose! Issues with "Cards not having enough funds" (According to DR) or Banks flagging DR International transactions as possible fraud (In some cases BOTH charges for the Star Sisters were made on the same day! In some cases Multiple attempts were made in the same day...)

Now this forced Mattel to reopen the subs for customers who had an issue on January to resubscribe.
Also Mattel's Representative (The Mighty Spector Himself) "warned" the Customers that delays in Mattel Getting the product (Like Kobra Khan who had a delay) may happen all the way to June... (The 2013 Sub goes on Sale on July)

So let me recap:
The Site is painful to work with (on Sale Dates), Shipping is acting Randomly and the delays may go on for a while, there's a shortage of Product, Subscriptions are being cancelled randomly.
If we add the fact that 2012 was the lowest subscription yet to the mix, we've got a recipe for trouble.

The subscription is the "bread and butter" of the line, according to Mattel. The 2012 subs were the "lowest yet" AND the whole issues that affected the Subscribers might scare off possible subscribers (both new and returning). Now to that we add the QC issues such as Snout Spout's trunk cracking and breaking... (Mine's cracked.) Swift Wind's legs, etc. In the end all I see is a recipe for disaster... IF the rumors of yet another price increase occur...

Now, Shipping, site issues/glitches, billing, and CS issues are Digital River's problem and the Amount of Product available and cost of Items are Mattel's problem. So if the number of subscriptions go down, I don't want to hear (or Read) from Mattel saying that the fans did not support the line enough... WE put up with all of this crap because we love the toys AND the brand... IF the line dies it was NOT the fault of the Customers or of the Fans...

*UPDATE!!!!*


International Orders seem to do an extra trip AFTER the US Tour... They seem to be visiting Sweden before heading to their destination... (So in my case they have to do 2 TRIPS across the ATLANTIC!? WTF!?)

Mar 27, 2012

The Mighty Facepalm: Another Look at The Mighty Spector

I have already posted about The Mighty Spector Now his Bio has been revealed!
Let's take a look shall we?

He's a Time Traveler, so a BTTF Reference is Mandatory Here's TMS' Bio!

The Mighty Spector
Real Name: John Spector

After Skeletor Banished King Randor to Despondos, he seized his rightful throne and dismantled the Eternian Palace Guards. Loyal to Marlena and the Royal Household, Lt. Spector was cut off from the rest of the Masters of the Universe when he was thrown into a time portal and flung into the future. In this new time, he served King He-Man and was given a special suit reverse engineered form the Cosmic Key. Using its powers, Spector could travel into time, fighting for the Royal Family as their agent throughout Eternia's history. Spector uses his Vortex Suit to turn the tide in battle, loyally serving the King and Quuen of Eternia.


That's his Bio... Now let's dissect the Despondos out of it...

Skeletor got rid of Randor and took his "Rightful" place as King. In order to do so he'd have to reveal that he IS Keldor. I suppose that with his Banishment Keldor was Forced to Abdicate his position as Prince of Eternia... So he does NOT have a "rightful place" as King.

OK So Spector is Loyal to Marlena and the Royal Household... But isn't the Royal household the house of Miro's children? Does it mean that he'd have to be Loyal to Skeletor?

He was cut-off from the rest of the Heroic Warriors when he was sent to the Future.


Then he serves King He-Man and is given a Cosmic Key-Suit...
Um... I don't know about you, but why!? What's the reasoning behind giving the time travel suit to a guy that seemingly deserted the Royal guards for whatever the time from his disappearance to his arrival to the future. Also why give this Powerful suit to a mere Palace Guard... it makes no sense!

He uses the suit's power to travel through the timeline and fight for the Royal Family throughout Eternia's history.

Uhh... WHAT!? What in the HELL does this mean!? That is messing around with the timeline... which was apparently a big no-no for Spector...

While he's not out-mary-sue-ing Milla Jovovich or Bella Swan, this bio does stink a bit of Gary Stu... (To much emphasis on Spector's Loyalty and getting the Godly Time Traveling power from none other than He-Man himself...)
Personally, I would have gone in a completely different direction with Spector...
Option A:
A Post-Apocalyptic Future Spector that travels back to the past to stop the "assassination" of Randor and he gives his Vortex suit to his younger self and gives him a mission before fading from the timeline... To protect Eternia from a future where Skeletor rules the land.

Option B:
Long after the fall of Skeletor, Lt. Spector was assigned by General Clamp Champ as Gwildor's Bodyguard. While doing his job he befriended the Thenurian and helped him with his experiments (Vortex Suit) A troop of Trap Jaw's Brute Squad attacked them and killed Gwildor. Spector accidentally sent himself back a few years and decided to help the Heroic Warriors. He wears the Mask (that disguises his voice and appearance) to avoid his young self to see him and create a Time Paradox that could destroy the Universe.

Option C:
Long after the Fall of Skeletor An old and Bitter John Spector stole Gwildor's Experimental Vortex suit to go to the past and become the full-fledged hero he believes himself to be...


Before anyone points the similarities to Cable, Marty McFly, or Booster Gold's stories I am aware of them...

His role is not AS bad as I feared, but his bio seems to lack some "oomph!" It also raises more questions than it gives answers.

I'm not gonna touch the ISSUES with a character whose sole ability IS Time Travel... or Time traveling issues...

Mar 26, 2012

Odds and Ends: Still no Chicken Lady and Big Right Fist...

Matty's February package has not arrived... What the Hell Mattel!! Meanwhile here's some odd news to distract me from complaining...

I think that Kate Winslet should avoid traveling by boat... Cause everybody would want to recreate the "I'm Flying" scene... At least she doesn't get requests to draw her like those French Girls!

Speaking of Titanic 3D... Wait WHAT!? Really? Eeyup! Jim Cameron is rereleasing Titanic in 3D... 100 years since the ship sank and all that... It's not like he's trying the George Lucas Doubledipping. *sigh* but that's not what I'm not going to talk about...
He just went down the abyss... I mean the Mariana's Trench... Where they dumped the Bayformers Megatron... Wonder if this will lead to a new Abyss Movie... OR a remake in 3D (blegh!)

I know that Der Untergang clips of Hitler's rage with random subtitles are funny... Cause it's not the Real Hitler, but some Turkish Shampoo Company did the same thing to promote their Shampoo with Footage of the Real Hitler...

Speaking of Facepalm worthy things! How about this!? At a Medal Ceremony where Kazakhstan won, the Anthem played was the one from Borat instead of the real Anthem... I have to admit that it's funny to an outsider, but I guess that the people behind this ceremony are not laughing...

Mar 19, 2012

Hey What the!? Winter-Wrap Up 2012 Edition

Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up!
Let's finish our holiday cheer
Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up!
'Cause tomorrow Spring is here,
'Cause tomorrow Spring is here!

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring and winter ends up in a sour note:
Thanks to Michael mother****ing ****bag ***hole Bay!!
Not only this jerkwad screwed Transformers, now he's producing the new TMNT...

I know whatcha' thinking:
"He's the producer, not the director... there's no way they can screw TMNT!"

To that I say: When Michael Bay is involved, there is a way!

The Teenage MUTANT Ninja Turtles are ALIENS!?

Now picture a long stream of expletives that would make the Angry Videogame Nerd look like a nice guy who never cusses and you'll get what I'm feeling.

While the OOZE may be Alien in Origin, the Turtles are MEANT to be Earthling Turtles... I think Somebody should punch Bay on the Devastator Wrecking Balls while using a Shredder Costume!

That would be my Knee-Jerk reaction. It's not a senseless act of rage towards Bay... I got burned by the Bayformers and I fear his lack of respect to the source Material may force some "Executive changes" to TMNT. Ah, it's a good thing that Megan Fox is on The Bayster's "Black list" now...

I'm worried about the movie being completely disrespectful to the Source Material. I'll wait and see if my doom and gloom predictions will come true or not... Here's hoping that I'm wrong!

Mar 13, 2012

Hey What the!? No more drinking Piss?

Discovery Channel Fired me... Time to drink my own piss.

But what am I going to watch now!? Les Stroud is gone, I think Man, Woman, Wild got the ax. Not so certain on the status of Dual Survival... How can I be an armchair survivalist without the guy who made the most stunts that look like they are the most likely ways to get killed in the wild!


Apparently Discovery had two projects for Bear to do due to his contract and he is not doing them. (Is he wussing out?) So they fired Bear... I wonder what they'll do now? It better not be another crappy Alaskan gold, crab, or some other crap show... Looks like Mythbusters is the only thing left for me to watch on Discovery... Unless they replace Bear Grylls with Johnny Knoxville or something... Jackass vs Wild... OK that would be pretty awesome...

Part of me wonders what were the projects that Bear did not want to do? Man vs Jersey Shore? A Survivorman clone just to prove that Bear is tough enough? We will never know...
Bear, we will miss your pee and poop drinking, larva eating, seal bodysuit wearing, sheepingbag sleeping, naked jumping jacking butt! I don't always drink piss, but when I do... Who am I kidding I've no reason to drink pee! I'd rather stay thirsty my friends! Cause by the point I'm considering drinking my own pee I MIGHT be dehydrated... I'll leave the pee drinking to the professionals.

Mar 11, 2012

IT Came From the Toy chest: 20% cooler and 200% Larger

I'm talking about the Fashion Style Rainbow Dash!

Mandatory joke about G3 Rainbow Dash...
Well, THIS 20% Cooler Rainbow Dash, apparently also dresses in style!

Alright enough of those G3 Rainbow Dash Jokes, Spike!! Only Twilight is the troll! You're just the slave/fax machine!!

She's pretty much the same as the other Rainbow Dash I reviewed before... sculptwise, but this one is larger. The accessories are different... This one has no pet but instead has 4 shoes... for her 4 legs, duh!, 5 barrettes for her hair, a bracelet, her dress, a comb for her hair and sunglasses!

I think this RD can fit better with Celestiazilla... So, let's get to the ratings part shall we?
Like in the previous pony reviews there are 2 scores, the Normal Action Figure score and those using the pony curve.

Articulation:
Same as good old mini-dash!
1.0 in my normal scale and 4.0 (using the Pony Curve)

Paint and Sculpt:
Again, the score here is the same as with the previous Dashie.
2.0 in both counts...

Accessories:
Now here is where she would stray from the previous Dash... She's got a LOT of stuff! Perfect for Little girls but useless for this brony.
13 accessories in total. The combinations for her are like, endless! I'm sure that the Glasses WILL stay on my Rainbow Dash cause they make her look 20% cooler...

4.5

Overall:

I have to do it Applejack!
2.5 using the standard review curve. While using the Pony curve it bumps up to: 3.5 which is pretty good!

Mar 10, 2012

It came from the Toy Chest: IT came from the Happy Meal!

My little Happy Meal: Ponies are Money... I mean My Little Pony Friendship is Magic has returned to McDonalds!
They also have Transformers Prime Happy Meal toys, but let's face it... Everypony is more interested in Pony toys than Transformers toys... At least that's what they told me at the closest McD that I have...

Now, since this is a Happy Meal Toy, I will NOT give it a rating on the review. Mostly cause these toys are basically statues... Ponyrrific statues! Also Happy Meals are back to being Happy Meals instead of crappy bags! yay!
This Happy Meal is unisex with Optimus Prime on one side and Pinkie Pie

On the Friendship Express Train is on the other side...

Now so far I've gotten Pinkie Pie and Rarity. The others are Appplejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and

But wait, there's more! There's 2 more ponies that are NOT the Mane 6... No Celestia or Luna, but we have Cheerilee and I think it's Lilly Blossom... (Why Lilly Blossom and not someone more important like Celestia, Luna, Big Macintosh, or even Derpy!?)

What can I say about these Pony Statues:
They have Plastic Manes as you can see and a rooted tail that you could comb. Also the comb turns into a clasp to attach to a backpack... They're a bit smaller than Hasbro's Ponies. Their cutie marks are not accurate. Pinkie has one Balloon instead of 3 (2 blue and 1 yellow) Rarity only has one diamond instead of 3... Don't know if it's an error or if accurate cutie marks were not logistically possible.

Honestly, the ponies have made McD 20% cooler... I hadn't been this excited about McD since the McRib! or maybe the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX stuff... the McD near campus never had the 200X MOTU toys... Sure, they're not the best Happy Meal toys in history, but they serve their function.
Cheap toys with some collectible appeal and promoting a toyline outside a niche base... Starting with the most unnecessary vehicle ever... It's pretty clever, don'tcha think?

Mar 9, 2012

It came from the Toy Chest: Ancient Spirits of Evil and all that!

Ah, He-Man has his Skeletor and Lion-O has Mumm-Ra, The Ever Living!! Hmmm... a Lich and a Mummy... The 80s had a bunch of undead evils... What can we say about the Classics Mumm-Ra?
Well, Mumm-Ra never got an 8-inch counterpart... But he's got a six inch New Thundercats version... I'm not sure why I believe that this Mumm-Ra reuses stuff from New-Mumm-Ra... Let me check out pics of the 6-incher...
Holy crap he does NOT reuse stuff from the New Mumm-Ra! Well, there goes my theory... Now what am I going to ramble about!?

So, let's get unto the Ratings part:
1= Crap worse than Lynx-O's eyesight and 5 = is more awesome than Cheetara's theme music...
Articulation:
Remember how Lion-O's Articulation surpassed the MOTUC figures? Well Mumm-Ra is competing with the MOTUC Females in Articulation. His Articulation is about the same as She-Ra 1.0 with limited range due to a super-hard skirt!
3.0

Paint and sculpt:
Well, he's not AS Accurate to the Cartoon Mumm-Ra as Lion-O is to his cartoon counterpart.
-His "skirt" is not assymetrical as the cartoon version.
-the Snakes on his crest are "Hyperdetailed" compared to the Cartoon version.
-The most obvious difference is the lack of cape on Mumm-Ra (Just like the 80s version.)
-Like the Other Bandai 6-inchers we can see the SCREWS!! on his back. 2 of those holes can be plugged with the Mummy wraps that he has. This leaves a big hexagonal hole on his back... Maybe for a cape that was cut due to budget reasons?
-What's with his knees? They look like they were sculpted for double jointed knees, but they're not gouble jointed... what gives?

Paintwise he has very little paint since most of his parts are molded in the appropiate colors... although I would have painted his crotch dark blue or red as his skirt... Mumm-Ra is going commando and you can see his ancient butt-crack of evil! There is some slop on the darker wraps on his headdress, but barely noticeable.
3.5 (Mostly due to inaccuracies in the sculpt)

Accessories:
2 gripping hands and the 2 Wrappings that plug into his back... No Sacrificial dagger or his nifty double sword... making his gripping hands kinda pointless... Also the lack of cape kinda hurts him...
2.0

Overall:
Mumm-Ra, The Everliving gets a 2.83 which is a shame... This figure had enough potential to be pretty cool, but in the end he just wasn't AS COOL as Lion-O...

Mar 6, 2012

It came from the Toychest... HOOOOOO!

Bandai, Bandai, Bandai... I've never been too fond of the American side of Bandai's Toy division... but they have the Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats! TOOOOOOOYYYYYYS!!!


They have the toys for the new Thundercats and the classic Thundercats... As much as I like the new show, I'm a sucker for Classic Thundercats... So, I got myself a Classics Lion-O... Yes, as seen on my other ICFtTC you can guess where this is going... the inevitable Lion-O vs He-Man comparisons... Mattel went with a 7-inch scale for some unknown reason... They're not in the 1:12 scale... Otherwise they'd be 6 inches... Your Spector mind tricks won't work here Toyguru! Well, since the most popular non-hasbro 80s toyline went in a 7-inch scale, what's Bandai's reaction? Let's Make Thundercats Classics in the 8-Inch scale, so they can't fit with MOTUC... Just like we remember! Apparently the 8-inchers didn't do so good and only Lion-O and Tygra were released... Rumors say that Cheetara will be the final 8-incher figure... Bandai reduced their size to six inches... Now they fit perfectly with Marvel Legends or DCUC, but NOT MOTUC!! WTF! Bandai... Seriously!

Well, the Lion-O I got is the six-incher and he looks pretty good... He looks like the same Lion-O from My childhood... Pantless!

Now moving on to the ratings part where the inevitable comparisons to MOTUC shall surface very often. As always 1 sucks as much as Bengali and 5 is as awesome as Panthro!
Aticulation:
Lion-O is MORE Poseable than MOTUC He-Man... Heck! The Lord of the Thundercats can hold a sword aloft better than the Most Powerful Man in the Universe. He even has Double Jointed knees! The Torso Articulation is a tad awkward but it has a decent range of movement. He lacks an "ab crunch" joint but his waist joint allows some slight bending. There's a PoA underneath his ribcage that allows him to lean to the sides that helps him in some poses.
Sadly he can't hold his sword with both hands above his head for the "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pose.
4.5

Paint and Sculpt:
The sculpt is pretty good perhaps a bit underdetailed. He almost looks like a 3D cartoon... This effect is emphasized by the very simple paintjobs without shading. Careful, the paint on the swords is not sealed and you could scrape off something important by accident... (This is why they should have sculpted the "eye" on the "dagger" and the Insignia on the "Sword"...)
The only negatives in the sculpt department are:
-His Screaming face looks more like he crapped his pants or is making a bad Hank Hill impression than screaming Thundercats! HOOOOOOO!
-The Thunderclaw has 3 fingers instead of 4... What does Lion-O do with his pinky?
-SCREWS!! This is the main reason why I HATE most of Bandai America's toys... The figures are often screwed together and you can see the screwholes on the back... Lion-O has 8! 8 Screws on his back! Ah! ah! ah!

Then there's also the ankle joints being a different color than his boots...
3.5

Accessories:
Now this is where the good stuff is!
Lion-O comes with:
-Sword of Omens (Dagger mode) The Eye of Thundera in it looks like it's warning Lion-O about danger... (as seen normaly before the Sight Beyond Sight sequence!)
-Sword of Omens (Sword Mode)
-Thunderclaw: TheSword of Omens (Dagger mode) fits inside of it!
-2 extra hands! (Hands can be swapped from gripping hands to open palm hands. The left hand has to be removed to use the Thunderclaw)
-A piece of blue plastic to attach the thunder claw to Lion-O's hip just like in the cartoon!
Honestly, all they needed to add was a Sword of Omens in Dagger Mode but with the handguard in the full sword mode to simulate the Sight beyond sight mode to be 20% cooler!
4.5
Overall:
Lion-O gets a 4.17, which is not bad for a Bandai America figure... It's funny, the 8-inchers lack these awful screws... Other than that he's a pretty cool figure!

Mar 2, 2012

Derpy... Derpy! DEEEEEEEERRRRRRPYYYYYYY!!!

In the Last Round-Up Fan-favorite background Pony, Derpy Hooves officially spoke!

The bronies went wild... they celebrated, some thought that her voice was a bit boyish... (to be fair, the VA didn't know that Derpy was a mare...) Apparently some were offended by Derpy... These people...caused a poopstorm and this happened:


They changed Derpy's voice... Not just her voice, but they tweaked her "derpy eyes" AND changed Rainbow Dash's lines. Heck, now Dash sounds less like her slightly abrasive self and is completely out of character... This is the same Rainbow Dash that was cheering because all of Twilight's friends decided to refuse the Extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala if Twilight gave it to them.
This gentler, kinder, almost Fluttershy-esque Rainbow Dash that is coddling Derpy until she finally "explodes" is exactly what Rainbow Dash is NOT about... feels out of character. Personally I never thought that Derpy had a mental disability. Maybe some depth perception problems due to her eyes, but she was the best pegasus she could be. She's a bit klutzy, perhaps a tad awkward, but there is nothing that says that she's "Mentally Disabled". Personally, I find the change MORE OFFENSIVE... for a couple of reasons:
-It makes RD act out of character. In the Original version if you switch the name Derpy with say, Pinkie Pie, RD's annoyed voice works perfectly, since some pony singed her tail. The new version makes it look like they're forcing some sort of moral to that segment.
-Changing her voice. OK Tabitha St. Germain was not aware that Derpy was a girl, but not all girls have girly voices... Now New Derpy sounds more like a stereotypical "dumb Blonde" rather than the awkward and klutzy kid next door vibe that the original Derpy voice had.
-"Fixing" her eyes. NOW of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE WORST POSSIBLE THING! Here's a clip of Rarity saying what I just said...

What's the message here? She was kinda cross-eyed in the previous version, now her googly/derpy eyes have been fixed, so she's not as Derpy as before... If something is different from the norm, it MUST be "fixed" until it "qualifies as normal"... I think this is far more offensive than a clumsy, cross-eyed pony.

Also, where were these PC knights to protect kids from other characters that are possibly "Mentally disabled" and used for comedy...
Let's start with the most obvious one:
Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants...


Or how About Ed from Ed, Edd and Eddy?


These guys are absolutely OK and not offensive at all, but Derpy is OFFENSIVE!? What the Hell!?

I fear what will they do when they realize that stuff dealing with Zecora could be considered racist... It's a good thing that Cranky Doodle didn't have a Mexican accent...

Mar 1, 2012

Wait... Twilight Sparkle is Ben 10!?

It's time for another fan rant... and since I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I've chosen to start with the Mane Character... Celestia's Favorite Student: Twilight Sparkle... Or to be more accurate, her VA: Ms. Tara Strong... OK, my original plan was not to do it on Twilight's VA, but my assistant and good pal: Sum Ellis Ock brought to my attention that Tara Strong likes to troll on Twitter! Trollestia must be proud... Also, she's been on a couple of things that I like... Some I knew... Others I did not. So let's begin this journey through memory lane involving cartoons, videogames, movies... things I like that had Tara Strong (or Tara Charendoff... maiden names vs married names... sounds like a huge hassle but that's not what I want to celebrate/rant about...)

So, this is my starting point on stuff that had Tara Strong on it...
Beetlejuice the Animated Series... (Yes, she's been on stuff earlier than this, but this is the earliest thing I remember watching with her on it.) Also, fellow Pony VA Tabitha St. Germain (Rarity, Princess Luna, Derpy...) seems to have done some Voice work here as well... But back on topic... Here she played the snobby Claire Brewster among other voices...

Now we move on to... the cartoon based on the ultimate Product placement from THE WIZARD... I'm talking about the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon!


She's been on some live action stuff as well... but my emphasis will be cartoons and games mostly... Heck! She even appeared on the TV series Forever Knight... something that most people I know say that I made it up! A Vampire cop... It sounds crazy... but true!

The next thing I remember with her on it was Tekkaman Blade 2: Here she played Yumi


She also had a few appearances on the 90s X-Men series... (in which Alyson Court... Lydia from the Beetlejuice toon played Jubilee) the one I remember was where she played Colossus' sister Ilyanna Rasputin...

(Any reason to post this intro is good enough for me...)

The next thing I remember that had her doing some voicework was very Extreme! but don't worry... it was not that awful GI Joe Extreme... It was Extreme Ghostbusters!

Guess who she was playing... Not Janine...



She was also Batgirl!! (and young Batgirl in the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker movie...)


Nothing better than being threatened by Bubbles!! Hey! I got a clip of Tara herself doing Bubbles... OK, roll the PPG intro!


Huf fa suja du suna ehdanacdehk cdivv... Damn the Al Bhed and their Machina!

She was Rikku in Final Fantasy X, it's sequel X-2, and a Fairy-like Rikku in Kingdom Hearts II!

Yes, I know I skipped Rugrats... but I've always hated Dil... as a Baby... I liked Dil better in All Grown up! Heh! Tara worked here with Cree Summer... (as well as in the FFX games...) Their paths seem to cross a lot...

She's also been on Family Guy doing additional voices... You learn something every day...

As mentioned in the title of this rant she's Ben Tennyson!?

Yes, she was Young Ben... before he was voiced by the same dude who voices Uchiha Sasuke...

I'm forgetting a very popular role she did... Teen Titans! She was Raven!


Wait she was Omi form Xiaolin Showdown!? Whoa!!


Ah... Before I take a turn to the 2 strangest roles of her VA career, (IMO) let me get out of the way her appearances on Butch Hartman shows... (Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom)
On Fairly Oddparents she was Timmy Turner!! (Freaking hard to find Fairly Oddparents clips that are not the Live action Movie with Drake Bell)
On Danny Phantom she was Ember...

With that out of the way, let's talk Drawn Together... Here she played two characters: Toot Braunstein and Princess Clara... The latter's voice sounds a LOT like Twilight Sparkle... Now, add Video editing powers and we get: THIS!

Oh, Celestia!! What has the internet done!?

Now as we step away from Drawn Together... great show, but not everyone's cup of tea, dark and crude humor, extremely tasteless at times (and it also has Cree Summer in it...)

Let me go to Videogames...
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has her as Ursula/Elisa... IIRC same girl Bi-Polar Personality Disorder...
She returns as another character for another MGS
Oh Hideo's not so subtle attempt at preaching for peace... Paz

Her faux Latin accent sounds kinda sexy...

Well, she's also played a role previously played by a fellow Pony VA... Andrea Libman! I'm talking about Wolverine's "clone-daughter" X-23... So, when I kick butt with X-23 in MVC3 is like I'm kicking butt with Twilight Sparkle!!

OK, I knew she was Sari on Transformers Animated... but I didn't knew this!!



Here she was Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman and I think she was Iron-toddler on an Episode... (I think Cree Summer played Toddler-Falcon)

She also replaced Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn for Batman: Arkham City...

She played a younger version of Will Friedle's Lion-O in the 2011 Thundercats!

And last but not least: TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!


You can check her entire career at the IMDB... but all I have to say is WOW! She's been in a LOT of stuff that I like... Almost as much as Cam Clarke... Whoa!! I have to thank Ms. Strong for being involved in so much stuff that I've enjoyed throughout the years... Games, Toons... A lot of these I didn't knew that it WAS her until checking out IMDB... Hopefully she'll keep showing up on more stuff that many people (myself included) enjoy... Got to play some Peace Walker now... In the name of Peace, Peace!