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Transformers Prime: Losing More than Just a Hand in Minus One

The writing team of Transformers: Prime knew how many episodes they had to work with, so it’s going to be interesting to see how well they can wrap this series up.

Transformers Prime Screenshot The writing in Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters continues to be exemplary. Not only was the loss of Ultra Magnus’ hand in the previous episode, “Evolution,” a brilliant foreshadow of things to come, but also the revelation comes to a head when viewers are playing along, wondering who is going to be “lost” in the episode, “Minus One.” This week’s show moves with the pacing of a smart murder mystery. Viewers see the Autobots capture a Decepticon, but as for whether or not Soundwave will divulge any information, the wait is intoxicating. The only letdown is that his silent warrior’s voice does not live up to expectations.

As for who may fail in this episode, the money was perhaps on one of the new characters introduced this season—either Ultra Magnus, Shockwave or Predaking.

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How to Keep on Selling and Loving How to Train Your Dragon Beyond its Source Material.

Both the novels and animated series in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise can be enjoyed as its own separate entities.

How to Train your Dragon Poster DreamWorks has a solid winner in How to Train Your Dragon. Loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s novel of the same name, the film offers a refreshing spin on dragon folklore. With nods to legends of old, the caricature-driven CGI world here does more than stir the imagination—it hints at a saga in the making. Given the number of books in the series, there’s ample material for future adaptations. Writer-directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders doesn’t seem too concerned about diverging from the source material, and for good reason.

A veteran of the animation scene, Sanders is best known for Lilo & Stitch, and he brings much of that magic to DreamWorks. Look closely and you might notice that Toothless the dragon bears a striking resemblance to the alien Stitch.

Instead of a girl meeting an extraterrestrial, the story ventures into a fantasy realm where a young boy, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), encounters a dragon. His Viking village is at war with the entire dragon race, and in preparation for the next generation of warriors, Hiccup attends a training school. Instead of following the rules, however, he skips classes to secretly rehabilitate a wounded dragon. The real question becomes: who is training whom? These moments of mutual discovery are among the film’s most engaging, with a few irresistibly adorable scenes as the bond grows—much like in Lilo & Stitch.

When Hiccup and Toothless take to the skies, the aerial sequences are breathtaking, rivaling and arguably surpassing anything in Avatar. Even James Cameron could take a few notes here.

The film’s slightly exaggerated, cartoon-like style makes it more charming than if it had pursued pure photo-realism. At its core is a powerful message: alliances are possible, even between sworn enemies. The story doesn’t shy away from the cost of conflict either; battles leave their scars, lending the film a welcome touch of realism.

The franchise’s reach extends beyond the big screen. The television series Dragons: Riders of Berk has shown that Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut can do more than tame dragons—they can work alongside them. The upcoming series, Dragons: Defenders of Berk, will see the heroes face Alvin and the Outcasts. Given the previous season’s cliffhanger, Berk’s residents may be facing a full-scale invasion. Life in their once-secluded village is changing, and Hiccup might soon have to learn what it takes to be a leader—perhaps even a king. While the books have never served as a strict blueprint for the animated series, familiar plot points are beginning to emerge.

Both the How to Train Your Dragon novels and the animated series stand on their own, offering different yet equally enjoyable experiences. For fans awaiting the next instalment—whether in theatres, on streaming platforms, or as part of the live-action reimagining—reading the books is a great way to keep the magic alive. There’s room to expand this world in many directions, from side stories for the supporting cast to deeper arcs for familiar faces, with or without direct ties to Cressida Cowell’s source material. It’s rarely worth reinventing the wheel; new interpretations will come in time. For now, growing the How to Train Your Dragon universe feels like the best path forward.

5 out of 5

How to Train Your Dragon Trailer

Transformers Exodus and Exile Examined (with 3rd Book News)

From the first book titled Rebellion to the last, Reconnaissance, publisher Del Ray has changed the formula around by not offering a teasinFg title like “Transformers: Extinction.”

transformers exodus Fans of either Transformers Prime the animated series or the Fall/War of Cybertron games are well advised to read the book Transformers: Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron. Written by Alex Irvine, he does a remarkable job in penning the lead up to one of cartoondom’s greatest wars of all time. As most fans know, the conflict is largely centered on a battle of wills between Autobot leader Optimus Prime and Decepticon dictator Megatron.

But for the leader of the Decepticons, there is more to him than meets the eye. He was a nameless factory worker who quite literally fought his way to the top. Domination is all he knew as he fought in the gladiatorial pits of Kaon. Despite his limited dealings with higher Cybertronian society as a whole, he believed they were corrupt. He wanted to do away with the caste system that was eroding the robotic civilization. He took on the name of Megatronus and preached that equity should exist. That is, no social or occupational ranking system is required to determine one’s way of life. Freedom should exist for everyone. Orion Pax agreed with this up-and-coming orator about what needs to be done, but somewhere along the way, a rift between them would form and a war would erupt.

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A Fun Look Back at Comic Book Films. Days of Future Past

“But it’s more about cross promotion and the product can be enjoyed more by spinning comic book films in new directions,” says Saunders.

Comic book films are very often a tough sell in a mass market that’s picky about what they like seeing. While Hollywood sees the medium as a readymade—a product that comic book readers are familiar with—to attract new converts requires a product that has to be easily accessible, if not understandable.

“For example, Walking Dead, flies off the shelves like bats looking for human flesh,” says Steven Saunders, a comic book writer and columnist for the industry for five years, “and Robert Kirkman takes concepts that’s been overdone and he makes it interesting.”

But with the box office these days, originality only goes so far. Saunders used to write for All The Rage, a gossip column about the comic book industry on Comics Bulletin and he would rather go watch the movie than to follow 40 years of comic book continuity.

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The Minions Just Wanna Have Fun in Despicable Me 2

In Despicable Me 2, the Minions are still working for Gru (Steve Carell) like lemmings with a renewed purpose.

Let’s face it, the big reason why the Despicable Me 2 is successful is because of all those Minions. The most prominent are Phil, Kevin and Dave along with all 101 of them, if that’s the correct count.

They are just as cute as those Dalmatians, however they are more like the Martians from Toy Story, ooohing and aahing at everything they encounter. And these characters do not disappoint in their hilarious hi-jinks in the sequel.

In fact, they even outdo the Penguins of Madagascar as great comedic teams. Fans of slapstick will no doubt be looking forward to the Minion movie, due in theaters Dec 2014, more than the Penguins, due in 2015.

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Finding Ohana in Stitch! the Animated Series

After three more movies and a television series, Disney put an end to their adventures with Leroy and Stitch–presumedly. But the love continues in Asia!

Whatever happened to Lilo and Stitch? The series that began in 2002 enjoyed a good five-year run in North America. After three more movies and a television series, Disney put an end to their adventures with Leroy and Stitch. This 2008 direct to video release tied up all the loose ends and set the blue fuzzy terror free to terrorize in Stitch! He isn’t as much of a terror with thanks to Lilo; he learned how to be civilized.

During this run, Experiment 626 (Stitch) still had his moments of being wonderfully nasty. He was more of a selling point of the series than the subplot of building ohana, a Hawaiian term meaning family. In this series, Lilo further defines it as, “Nobody gets left behind.”

In this series, she sought to find a place where each quirky experiment, a cousin of Stitch, can safely belong. A few gems in the TV series existed which reinforced this point. But the one that says it all is with “Remmy,” where Lilo tries to cope on the anniversary of when her parents died. Nani, her older sister, tries her best to raise her, but that’s difficult to do when neither have an appropriate coping mechanism in place for them to grieve. Instead, what they do is to build their familial relationships to include everyone, so that no matter where the person (or alien) is from, they have brothers and sisters to rely on when hope is needed.

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