Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Been away for a bit but I've been busy watching more movies and anime to update this blog, after this review, Kubo and the Two Strings, All Dogs Go To Heaven and Magic Kyun Renaissance but first it's Lego Batman.
Without giving away too much as this is a current movie, Lego Batman Movie is basically a comical look at the most overlooked part of Batman's psyche which is of course his crippling fear of accepting family again, so lets see what Lego makes of it.
Batman is being Batman as he is Batman but after the latest battle with Joker and his villain friends, Batman rejects Joker as his biggest enemy, this is followed by Barbara Gordon taking on the head role of Police Commissioner from her father and calling out Batman for not actually catching the criminals which leads to a strange moment when Joker surrenders, unable to fight crime anymore, Batman resorts to getting rid of the Joker once and for all with the help of Robin but in doing so creates an even greater scenario which is where this review stops as it's spoiler territory.
Lego Batman is funny which is what it was aiming to be to begin with, it's Lego it's not meant to be taken seriously but I get the sense and this will make me a massive hipster, that Lego has become too mainstream.
It's absolutly everywhere, it's making the franchises they cover into sellouts and this film is so ridiculously cheesy and marketable that I kind of feel cheated. I say that because the Lego Movie was actually really good and was written well and actually felt like what Lego was representing. This is a cash in trying to rebuild (No pun intended) Batman's shattered movie career and using Lego to bring yourself back is as last resort as you can get without resorting to an unpopular reboot.
It's still funny and it's non offensive but I still feel cheated considering how much I enjoyed the Lego Movie.
Continuing straight away from the last entry we cover those we'll miss who passed on from April-June
Kirsten Bishopric 1963-2014
Veteran Canadian Voice Actress whose credits include Zoicite from Sailor Moon among many others.
George H. Heilmeier 1936-2014
Pioneer of LCD which revolutionized television of whom without would not have gotten close to the HD era.
Bob Hoskins 1942-2014
British Actor whose roles included Eddie Valiant from Who Framed Roger Rabbit as well as the live action Super Mario among many other roles.
Efrem Zimbalist Jr 1918-2014
Veteran actor & voice actor whose roles included Alfred from a number of DC universe cartoons as well as Dr Octopus in the 90s Spiderman among hundreds of other roles.
Kouji Yada 1933-2014
Veteran voice actor whose credits include Dr Gero from the Dragonball universe among many others including Zeff from One Piece.
Eric Hill 1927-2014
British Children's Author of Spot the Dog.
Francis Matthews 1927-2014
British Actor who provided the voice of Gerry Anderson's Puppet character Captain Scarlet in the series of the same name.
Casey Kasem 1932-2014
Radio Broadcaster and voice of Shaggy from Scooby Doo, a role he played for 40 years among other voice works including Transformers.
Steve Viksten 1960-2014
Writer for Rugrats, Hey Arnold (as well as voice of Oskar Kokoshka), Recess, Duckman and the Simpsons.
This is a follow up to the previous list Top 10 Corrupt Corporate Executives. Inspired by an idea from silvershriek, this list will run down the Top 10 Honest Corporate Executives, this follows the same rules as the last list.
10. Steven Stone from Pokemon
He's not technically in charge of the Devon Corporation but the fact that he's Hoenn's Champion makes him quite the public figure. He also helps you take down Team Aqua/Magma in the games.
9. Yoshino from Appleseed Ex Machina
Despite the Poseidon company products causing a lot of damage in the Appleseed world, the surprising response from it's leader Yoshino is to take responsibility and clean up the mess. Not many bosses do that.
8. Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia
Despite looking like a brute and being locked up for murder he's still a disciplined, diplomatic, highly-intelligent gentleman in charge of the Lezareno Company. Looking past his crime, he still runs the company well.
7. Maximillion Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh
Despite being one of the big villains I can't really call him a corrupt business man. He created one of the worlds most addictive card games including painting the monster designs, he is shown painting the Egyptian Gods after all. He even gives a chance to Duke Devlin's Dice game. Bonus points is that he's wonderfully camp and enjoys comic books, what's not to like?
6. Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons
Another villain but he treats all his employees like royalty which not only makes the town the ideal place to live but you actually find yourself supporting his regime.
5. Bigweld from Robots
Incredibly nice and always out for new ideas. Perhaps he's too nice as he gets overthrown pretty quick.
4. Bruce Wayne from Batman
I don't even know what Wayne Enterprises actually does but whatever it does you can bet that it's the most trusted company in Gotham and run by it's most popular citizen.
3. Tony Stark from Iron Man
Whether you consider weapons manufacturing a good thing or not, you cannot deny that Tony Stark earns total respect from his employees so much so that in one comic story when Stark Industries was taken over, Tony started a new company from scratch and the whole of the Stark Industry workforce joined him.
2. Scrooge McDuck from Ducktales
A surprise entry considering that Scrooge's penchant for money makes him out as greedy as the character he's based on but he prides himself on earning all that money the honest way refusing to be immoral or corrupt. This is shared by his employees who actually like working for him.
Note: Ironically Ebenezer Scrooge himself is a lot of things but the original book makes it clear he's not a dishonest businessman.
1. Jerrica Benton from Jem
So benevolent it's actually sickening.
Other than being the boss of Starlight Music, she also runs their charity and a Foster home for young orphan girls, all the while performing as Jem as part of the Holograms. While the other entries on this list have numerous hidden depths to their personalities and businesses, Jerrica is just straight up benevolent.
I'm starting a new list type known as Tribute Lists. These lists are not numeric and can be any number of entries; there's also no rules and restrictions so anyone from cartoons, anime and games can enter as long as it matches the theme and today's theme are those individuals who didn't get the girl or guy. Because someone has to honor them for trying.
Anime
Brock from Pokemon
Undisputed king of this list, has failed to land any girl even from those who have liked him and even when it looked like he finally had someone in Prof Ivy, something happened to break his heart and throw him into depression.
*Space reserved for Serena from Pokemon*
Way it's going she will have her heart broken by the time she leaves the group.
Yoko from Gurren Lagann
The two guys that shared a kiss with her both end up dead.
Sanji from One Piece
Has not been with any women and had ended up in Okama land during the time skip which if you've read or watched the scenes then you know what that is.
Yamcha from Dragonballz
Lost Bulma to Vegeta and now forever has to spend his days with a cat on helium assuming he's not dead.
Hitomi from Escaflowne
Ended up with no one by choosing to go back home.
Tai from Digimon
Didn't end up with Sora and the fans were not happy.
Lelouch from Code Geass
Don't even get me started on his history, he was doomed from the start.
Jigen from Lupin III
Has a high body count of dead lovers.
Milly Thompson from Trigun
Loses Wolfwood 24 hours after finally getting together.
Cartoons
Batman from All Versions of Batman
Believes he'll get them killed and remains permanently single Despite Terry McGinnis being his son in Batman Beyond
Lion-O from Thundercats remake
Loses Cheetara to Tygra, this also creates a lot of drama between the group
Mordecai from Regular Show
After finally getting Margaret to notice him she leaves to go to her dream school.
Squirrel from Sword in the Stone
Cruel because the squirrel didn't take it very well when Wart turned back into a human. It's actually difficult to watch.
Woody from Toy Story
Loses Bo Peep between films and is clearly dejected by it.
Brian from Family Guy
Never really seen him succeed in love despite having a lengthy relationship once.
Bart Simpson from the Simpsons
This may be down to the show needing the Status Quo to stay the same around the main family but poor Bart has yet to succeed in love.
Wolverine from X-Men
It's far worst in the comics.
Video Games
Ike from Fire Emblem
It was implied that he would end up with Elincia but by the sequel she ends up with someone else.
Byuu from Bahamut Lagoon
Despite being the main character he never ends up with the Princess.
Mario from Mario Games
Don't expect Princess Peach to ever make any effort; this is even lamp-shaded by the one off anime OVA when Mario doesn't end up with Princess Peach at all.
Amy Rose from Sonic Games
Will forever chase Sonic until the games become redundant although considering how much Sonic Boom will mess with the formula and set pieces she may escape this list.
Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury
Not so much the games but in all Anime forms he's ended up with dead girlfriends.
And that's your lot, so while you enjoy Valentines Day today, spare a thought for those who are single.
I’ve not done this feature for a while, mainly because research for these either take a long time or there isn’t enough material for a full feature, today we review all the small legends that won’t be making full features but should be spoken about.
Toy Story Legends
Concept designs for CGI cowboy Woody originally depict him as being selfish and a complete jerkass, it never made it beyond that.
In another legend before the actual Toy Story 3 came out, the original storyline would’ve been Buzz Lightyear being recalled by the company that made him and the other toys retrieving him from the factory.
Japan Did It First
Staying with Pixar, they can’t take credit for first ever use of CGI, that honor goes to Japanese anime classic Golgo 13: the Professional dated 1983 before Pixar released its first ever short films.
Johnny Bravo & The Twin Towers
An infamous still shot in a Johnny Bravo cartoon aired five months before 9/11 depicts a movie poster with the words “Coming Soon” written above a skyscraper on fire.
Conspiracy theorists believe it to be a deadly premonition but I think it’s only a coincidence; a movie called “Towering Inferno” about a skyscraper on fire is often referenced in American cartoons, sitcoms and comedies, also I don’t give the creator that much credit, after all saying that a cartoon about a dumb blonde strongman who speaks like Elvis predicted a major terrorist attack is like saying a Breakfast Cereal predicted the Rapture.
Creator’s Rights Win
During the production of Sci-Fi Cartoon Oban Star Racers, executives & promoters pushed the creator to create a male protagonist instead of using a female one. The creator was not impressed and not only did he keep his original design, he even created his own company to make sure no one interfered. This became an in-house joke with original pilot Rick Thunderbolt being replaced by Molly very early on and being written out of the show completely.
Batman Can Sing
WB Kids have some funny ways of advertising it’s shows, a promotional shot for Pokemon involved Batman singing the Jigglypuff Lullaby Song, made even funnier as he tries to maintain his serious face throughout, seriously check it out.
Story of Little Black Sambo & Mr Popo
As racist as Mr Popo looks, his design actually has an origin from a late 19th Century Children’s book called Little Black Sambo. It’s a strange story about a South Indian child who gives up his colorful clothes to tigers to avoid being eaten, the tigers argued & chased each other until they ended up as pools of butter, which Sambo’s mother decides to use to make pancakes, yes it’s that bizarre. Sambo’s design is of a black child with huge red lips similar to the way Mr Popo is designed, so Popo isn’t racist he’s paying homage to a storybook character & Little Black Sambo is ridiculously popular in Japan, plus he gets bonus points for at least trying to look Indian. Also worth noting is the Pokemon Jynx who also pays homage but unconfirmed by its creators.
Subaru Makes an Anime
I’ve got one more Urban Legend to give but this one does need a post all to its self, and yes I am referring to the car company Subaru.
