Mean and Green: Why I Love the Ninja Turtles as Much as I Do

Hey, everyone!

So I've got another Ninja Turtle post for you. I know I talk about them a lot, and I'm not really sorry, ha ha. But that's what this post is about. I decided to take a look at why I love the Ninja Turtles so much. I can honestly say it's one of the few fandoms that I could consider myself to be obsessed with.

Now I have other shows and books that I love, like Doctor Who, Sherlock, Batman, and various anime shows. But I don't love them like I love the Ninja Turtles. I loved the original comics, I enjoy the 90s series, I adore the 2003 and 2012 series, and I love the movies. I look up fan art on Pinterest and Deviantart, and I've read fanfiction. I even used to play with the action figures as a kid, (well, they were my brothers' action figures, but meh). For a good portion of my life, I've been a fan of Ninja Turtles.

So here's the question: why? Why would I love a story as odd as Ninja Turtles? Why would I love something that was obviously catered to boys? Well, that's what I'm here to find out. Here's why I love the Ninja Turtles.

The Sequel Syndrome

Hey everyone!

It's been awhile, but I'm still alive. Before I start talking about my topic today, I have a couple things to say that you all should be aware of. I recently found out that someone posted links to porn websites in a comment in one of my posts. I've removed the comment, but I'd like to just warn all bloggers out there to be aware of activity on your blog. I've also changed the settings on my blog so now I can moderate all the comments that go on my blog. I suggest you should probably do the same thing so you avoid the problem I had. I don't know the commenter, and I'm not sure how she got my blog url, but I'm taking precautions to prevent it in the future. Seriously though, what is wrong with people? I'm pretty disgusted by the whole thing, ugh.

Anyway, on with the topic! This post is all about sequels. I was looking at the movies that have come out in the past ten years and I realized that a disturbing amount of them have been sequels and prequels. Most of you that know me know of my strong prejudice against sequels. I  can probably count on one hand the sequels I thought were good. So I thought I'd talk about sequels and my issue with them.

When I say sequels, I'm not talking about trilogies that were previously planned along with the first movie, such as Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the Batman Trilogy, (though I have a few issues with that one, but we won't go there). I'm talking about sequels that weren't previously planned that come about as a result of the popularity of movies. I feel that these types of movies fall victim to what I call the Sequel Syndrome. Movies under the Sequel Syndrome tend to have the same problems which include lack of character development or even character regression, an unoriginal plot, and inferior effects and animation.

The Concept of Animated Attraction

Hey everyone!

It's been a little while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, though I would like to blame my lack of posting partially on laziness and mostly on my lousy internet connection (seriously, the internet at our apartment sucks).

Today I'm talking about the concept of attractive cartoon characters. For many of us that are avid fans of anime and cartoons, there is that phenomenon of the attractiveness of a cartoon character, or in other words, the idea of an animated character being "hot." This is an idea that can be completely foreign to most people who don't watch much anime or cartoons in general.

I think the biggest reason why people find the idea of attractive animated characters strange is the fact that the characters aren't real. What could be so attractive about someone that doesn't even exist except on a piece of paper? This is the question that I've struggled to answer as my friends sometimes wonder about me drooling over anime guys. So here are some my thoughts on the matter. Keep in mind that most of my examples will refer to male animated characters, since that's what I'm the most familiar with.

Example of stylized anime male character

The Surprising Value of Fanfiction

Source: nolannabiblog.wordpress.com

So this is something most of you probably don't know about me: in my downtime, I like to read fanfiction.

For those of you not familiar with the term, fanfiction is basically what its name describes: fiction written by fans based off of characters in a movie/book/TV show.

Now before you point fingers and laugh at me (or grab the pitchforks and torches, etc.), let me tell you something. I know that fanfiction has the stereotype of being badly written porn that fans use to fulfill their sexual fantasies with their favorite characters, and this is true for a lot, if not most fanfiction. However, not all fanfiction is bad. I've found some fantastic stories written by fans that explore different characters, or a creation of an alternate universe. There are some really good writers out there.

So here are several reasons why I like fanfiction.

Bad or Good? My Thoughts on The New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie

So as most of you have probably figured out, I'm a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise. I loved the original comics, the 2003 show, and the 2012 show. I played with my brother's Ninja Turtle action figures as a kid, I have all three live-action movies and the CGI movie on DVD, and I have a fair amount of Ninja Turtle merchandise.

So you would think that I would be completely excited about the new movie that's coming out this year.

Well . . . that's what this blog post is about. I have some serious misgivings about the movie and also some hopes. So let's get started.

Reasons Why The New TMNT Movie Could Be Terrible

Source: idlehands1.blogspot.com

1. Michael Bay is Involved
I know that he directed Armageddon, but he's also been responsible for some pretty bad movies (cough cough Transformers), and the fact that he's involved in this project means that the movie could share the same fate as his other movies.

I just don't really like Michael Bay's style and he doesn't put a lot of thought into the characters or the story. For him, it's all about the special effects. So the fact that he's involved in a movie adaptation of my favorite TV show has me pretty edgy.

2. Megan Fox is April O'Neil
Some of you know that I can't stand Megan Fox. I honestly have never liked a movie that she was in. She doesn't strike me as a good actress and I feel that she's just there to be the sexy chick who appeals to the crowd that these types of movies attract. And the fact that she's supposed to be playing the first human that the turtles meet, a character with a lot of potential, really bugs me.

My worst fear is that the character April O'Neil will degenerate back into the useless character that's just there for sex appeal when I know that she can be so much more. And with Megan Fox playing her, that prospect seems so much more likely.

Why the Concept of the "True Geek" is Damaging

Hey everyone! 

The topic I'm tackling today may be a bit controversial but I need to say my thoughts. If you don't like what I'm about to say, then I'm sorry, but it's something that's been bugging me for a while, which is this idea of a true geek.

It started when I was reading up on the whole fake geek girl shaming issue. If you're not familiar with the issue, here's the watered-down version: various people in the geek demographic have gotten angry at girls dressing up in revealing superhero costumes and knowing nothing of said superheroes. This resulted in suspicion of all geek girls, who now have to defend themselves against the barrage of claims that they aren't real geeks. Geek girls then retaliated with arguments that they shouldn't have to defend themselves and that the geek demographic was being sexist.

Source: searchingforsuperwomen.com

Now, I could talk about that whole issue, but I actually think it's a part of something even bigger. I'm talking about the idea of being a "true geek." It comes from people saying, "you're not a true geek if you don't know who insert person here is," or "a true geek has seen every season and watched all the behind-the-scenes features," or "This is something only a true geek would know."

There's also the idea of having a "geek card," which is like the "man card." I've seen and heard these sayings all over the place from Facebook to Pinterest to various blogs. And I've said versions of these statements as well.

For a demographic of people who claim to be a part of entertainment that's posed as both morally and intellectually better than the rest of the world's entertainment, I feel like we sometimes really don't act like it.  We as geeks tend to be a little exclusive with our fandoms, rejecting those that may not fit the definition of a "true geek."

What Frozen Does Differently and Why I Like it

Hey everybody! First of all, I'm going to try and post at least once a week from now on. Whether that happens or not is uncertain, ha ha.

So I recently saw Disney's newest film, Frozen, and I was surprised by many things that this movie did that are different from previous Disney films. I know critics have given different thoughts and views on how these changes made the movie better or worse, but I'm going to talk about some of the more controversial points of Frozen, and why I liked them. Oh, to anybody who hasn't seen the movie yet, be warned that there are spoilers ahead! Just go watch the movie already!

Elsa and Anna. Source: www.neontommy.com

First of all, let's talk about how Anna's act of true love involved sacrificing herself to save her sister. This act then broke the curse of the frozen heart, saving Anna's life. I absolutely loved this part! It says so many good things about the characters and the story. I'll admit when the troll magician talked how an act of true love would save Anna, and they all immediately said, "true love's kiss," I literally groaned in the theater. I'm not even kidding. Don't get me wrong, the whole true love's kiss thing is a nice trope, but that's kind of the problem. It's been done before. Multiple times. Some examples include: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted, etc.  And the movie made it look like that's what was going to save Anna. So when the act of true love turned out to be Anna saving her sister, I was very happily surprised. I think it worked really well and it turned a trope into something new and interesting.