Reflections on Society: My childhood is Ruined!

Everyone these days seems to love being recreationally outraged.  The newest wave of outrage I've seen hasn't been coming from the white house (crazy huh) but franchises.  Claiming such   I'd like to address some of these poorly crafted complaints and why they hold no merit. I'm going to start small, then work my way up.

This is backtracking a little bit, then work my way forward. I'd like to start with the 1st spawn of the whining, transformers.  Yes, transformers.  The live action Michael Bay movie that branded him as the explosion director.  For some reason, everyone loved the first Transformers movie.  But when Transformers 2 came out the line was crossed... I'm not gonna lie, I see very few differences from the 1st movie to the 2nd one.  The 2nd one was very much like the 1st, just slightly less explosive and more explosions. None of the movies contained any thought-provoking ideas, and they shouldn't, they're action movies. 

They're movies about cars, trucks, & other vehicles that transform into giant robots. What more were you expecting? I didn't watch many of the cartoons growing up (but I watched the shit out of the cartoon movie, that movie is bad ass!), but many of the episodes I watched weren't exactly amazing. Also I'd like to take this moment to point out that transformers was the most redneck cartoon imaginable.  The semi-trucks & everyday vehicles being the good guys, and many miltary/government vehicle being the bad guys. Great proagrandia.

After one these movies came out and the outrage settled in, I heard one nerd proclaim "Optimus Prime was like a father figure to a lot of people." 1st of all, to who? 2nd how terrible does your life have to be to have a fictional robotic truck be acting as your father figure? I get that there are some deadbeat dads out there, but this is a bit extreme.    

Let's not forget Transformers' real purpose, to see tons of poor quality toys.  I realize this is also the purpose of many of these franchises I'd like to address. I'd also like to mention that growing up I had a shit ton of toys belonging to all the franchises that I'm going to mention. Which brings me to my next franchise...

Ninja Turtles. This one is of my favorite franchises growing up. They were also the first line of action figures I was introduced to as a kid. The toys were cheap, being made out of thin plastic from China and all.  But I loved them. I used to play with them growing up and some times when I go back to my parents place for the holidays.  I was a super huge fan of Ninja Turtles growing up. The only thing I didn't do was force my parents to drag me to that terrible ninja turtles musical that was going on tour. And the only reason I didn't go, was probably because it didn't come to anywhere near me.

When I first moved to Utah I decided to get reaquitted with my old friends the turtles.  I began watching the old 90s cartoon. I'm not gonna lie, that cartoon sucks. There wasn't anything better on TV when I was a kid so I just rolled with it.  Also, the movies weren't great either.  Like transformers, this was another franchise designed to sell toys. 

I don't wanna get too into the new ninja turtles reboots, but I think they're good. Good, not great.  They have a lot of Michael Bay'type feels to them, but overall I enjoy them. I don't want to get too deep into film analysis, but honestly, I view them as a true film reboot.  It's how the turtles would be had they come out today. And that is what is happening with most of these franchises that have been around for a long. They adapt to the time they are released in.  Which brings me to my last franchie that everyone seems to be so butthurt over...

Star Wars... This one is a bit special because so much has been "ruined" by modern day adaptation.  From the prequels to Hayden Christiansen appearing as a force ghost at the end of Return of the Jedi. Oh, byt the nerds have something to be even more outraged at, The Last Jedi.  I'm not going to get into a film discussion about the film, but here's some things I am going to mention.  Shortly after force awakens came out every nerd on the internet was trying to guessing who Rey's father was, who the hell Snoke is, and why the hell Luke Skywalker was hanging out on some island all by himself.  

They spent the past 2 years conjuring up poorly constructed fan theories and speculation. Only to then find out all their ideas were wrong and thus, were outraged.  All their questions were answered  but not with the answers they wanted.  These same nerds complained that the Force Awakens was just like a New Hope, yet the last jedi had a fairly original plot but was seen as just terrible   I will admit that when I first saw The Last Jedi, I didn't think it was super great.  But upon reflecting on it more I realized it is a very well written film. But people were butt-hurt because it didn't give them the plot or ending they wanted. Boo... Hoo... Let's be honest here, the prequels didn't really give anyone what they wanted. Do you really expect things to change that much? 

The unrealistic expectations and nostalgia of these nerds is hilarious. My favorite line I always here from them concerning these franchises are "But my childhood is ruined".  If all it takes is one bad film to ruin your childhood, then your childhood was already ruined, you just found out during adulthood how fragile it really is.  - MCS1