Armada: Was Neil Kaplan right??
Hydra
know everyone's opinion on this.
During BotCon reports posting, someone related comments that Neil
Kaplan made about the first episode Armada. Although his remarks were
obviously negative assessments, some people felt that his comments
were very harsh and unfair, and others felt he made some valid
criticisms.
Some of the main opinions he brought up were that:
The humans are irritating (he mentioned Carlos, who he thought was a
token Hispanic character).
Optimus Prime receives minimal characterization (he referred to him as
something along the lines of a rip-off of the original.)
The animation is of poor quality.
Now we've seen the first few episodes, it seems almost ironic because
these are some of the same complaints that people are making after
watching the show! (Lame, annoying humans, lack of characterization,
bad animation...) So, I'm wondering if people that brushed him off
before feel like maybe he had a point? Or on the other hand, there are
people who were impressed with the first episode also... I'm not
taking sides, because I haven't even seen the episode yet myself.
-Hydra
Steve-o Stonebraker
> During BotCon reports posting, someone related comments that Neil
> Kaplan made about the first episode Armada. Although his remarks were
> obviously negative assessments, some people felt that his comments
> were very harsh and unfair, and others felt he made some valid
> criticisms.
Keep in mind that Kaplan was responding only to the first episode, not the
full three-episode "movie". Most fans who were at the dinner -- as far as
I've seen, at least -- had a neutral to warm reaction to the episode. I
think that in the context of all three episodes, there is more room for
making a valid judgement.
Also, very few people actually disagreed with Kaplan's root observations.
The closest thing would be his comment about the animation, but, the only
example I heard him cite was the closing "struggle" between OP and
Megatron. That *was* animated pretty cheaply. The rest of episode one
was pretty standard, though. Episodes two and three had a lot more
"cheats" and shortcuts, so, a complaint about the animation is more valid
for the movie than for the first episode alone.
What put a lot of us off about Kaplan's comments was the way they were
made, basically. He had some good points, but he was delivering them in a
manner which was uncool. Similarly, many, many of the reviews being
posted here are delivered in a manner which is uncool. If it makes you
feel better, the people who were complaining most about Kaplan have been
making levelheaded (but still unfavorable) posts about Armada, or not
posting about it at all.
--Steve-o
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Steve Stonebraker | Transformers FAQ Keeper | Astrophysicist
sst...@yahoo.com | www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb | AOL IM: srstoneb
Suspsy
<snip>
Neil wasn't right based on facts; he simply got lucky with regards to the
poor animation. Almost everyone who's seen the Armada movie agrees that the
animation is quite good for the first part, which was what 3H previewed at
the semi-formal dinner. As for his comments about Megatron and Optimus,
well, you had to be there either in the elevator Friday night or in the
Hilton lobby Saturday night in order to really grasp how truly nasty and
hateful he was. It was painfully clear that he was basing his anti-Armada
diatribe on jealousy and resentment rather than actual facts.
Sad, lonely man, that Kaplan.
Susp
"Sow the seeds of fear and victory is yours." -G1 Iguanus
Desperado00
>token Hispanic character).
I didn't mind Carlos. I did mind that fat, whiney schmuck on there. His
friend/master wasn't that great, either, but at least he didn't whine too much.
>Optimus Prime receives minimal characterization
It's the first show. Characterization is almost always absent in the first
show.
>The animation is of poor quality.
I thought it was pretty good, especially compared to other kiddy-styled Anime.
The action scenes left a lot to be desired, but that has more to do with
directing than animating.
-----
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
An egotist is a self-made man who worships his creator.
If we aren't meant to eat animals, then why are they made of meat?
No horse is too dead to beat.
Desperado00
>Anime.
Well, other than the recycled animation WITHIN THE FIRST THREE EPISODES! Talk
about lazy.