The Energon Pub

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:05 pm

If you look back at the "Old Day", you will see that the good and bad caracter where clearly distinct. Good guy was an heroic, humble and strong caracter and the bad was evil, greedy, malevolent and traitorous and usually power-hungry. Lets take Optimus Prime and Megatron as example. Ok, Transformer still respect that format.

Lets look at today cartoon. I watched the thing my 6-year old brother watch and....i can't (usually) tell who's good and whos bad. i can't make a difference between good and bad guy and all...

Good guy aren' heroic as before and bad guy aren't as evil OR are even evil beyond beign pure evil. Most caracter aren't black or white (Color to represent Good/Evil, NOT SKIN COLOR!) most are in shade of grey!!!

Do you understand what im trying to say???

News Credits: 553 · by **Professor Smooth** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:39 pm

I get what you're trying to say. Can you think of some examples of such kids shows that have such Shades of Gray characters?

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:58 pm

Hum, well...its hard to explain in word what im saying. But i have true example but i DO know that my brother can't make the difference between whos good or whos bad.

Im saying there is HUGE proportion of main caracter who are less "ok", more traitor and all this stuff...

I can even use Dinobot as an example. Even though Beast Wars is an old show, a kid CAN get confused. But, thing are much worst today.

Or, take the new ninja turtle for example, i watched a few episode and im confused. Except for the turlte group (4 Turtle, Casey, Splinter and so on...) and for shredder, im confused when it come to loyaltie!
And there are some serie i can't even understand the point of it!!!

And for the Shade of grey...i HAD an example, but i lost it! It might come back later.

by **Screambug** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:17 pm

I THOUGHT we love "grey area" characters better than pure "black and white" characters like in the old days?

"Grey area" usually means more character development, methinks.

News Credits: 1 · by **Dr Buffalo** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:11 pm

Wait, are you trying to say that the villains are not too distinct when it comes to acts of evil, and that makes it confusing to kids?

For that you could look to most Nicktoons were the villains act dimwitted and silly, and mostly have a sense of character appeal. But keep in mind, most of the shows are designed to appeal to kids as a source of Funny, not drama.

For that, you could look at Avatar where we clearly see a line of good v. evil but with characters like Zuko straddling the middle. This is an example of a pro/antagonist in a "gray-area". But this show is meant for a slightly older audience than Nick's usual demographic. And really those kinds of characters make for an interesting story.

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:16 am

Screambug wrote:I THOUGHT we love "grey area" characters better than pure "black and white" characters like in the old days?

"Grey area" usually means more character development, methinks.

I LOVE "shade of grey", but im talking about Kidshow here that all...

And my brother is the kind of kid who is very influenced by what he watch.

by **Tammuz** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:00 am

Kids shows are there to entertains kids, not teach them the difference between Right and Wrong. that's the job of their pearants and legal guardians.

if you're brother is very influenced by TV, why did you let him watch something that you feel will negatively affect his sense of morality?

and another note, in real life people aren't Black and white, they are shades of gray even the most villainous historical figures are humans, despite how history has demonised hitler(like it needed doing anyway), we must remember that he was also just a man, he loved, and cried, and felt just as any other man did. it's important to remember that he was not a monster, but a man who commited monstrocity. if you base you're morality on there only being absolute evil, and absolute good it will not accurately reflect the real world nor particualrily useful in the real world.

by **DREWCIFER** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:58 am

I friggin' agree.

Look at the current US admistration.

In the name of world peace, we have gone down a very dark road. Sure we think that we look great, but to anybody in our way, we look liek the devil. And not everybody in our way is evil.

If you feel that cartoons are confusing, so is the whole world. If you are stiiting with your bro, talk to him and ask him what he thinks. I bet he understands more than you think. Also, since he is younger, you can let him know what things are about.

:DEVIL:

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:53 am

Your all saying this...but you never saw my brother! If a show tell him to cut my throat open he would probably do it!!! :shock:

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:59 am

Nico wrote:Your all saying this...but you never saw my brother! If a show tell him to cut my throat open he would probably do it!!!

They have pills for that now.

I'm not kidding. Take him to a shrink, and either have him on Happy Pills, or put him in the nuthouse.

by **Tammuz** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:31 pm

Nico wrote:Your all saying this...but you never saw my brother! If a show tell him to cut my throat open he would probably do it!!!

and you still let him watch TV?! that's just irresponisble.

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:01 pm

Tammuz wrote:
Nico wrote:Your all saying this...but you never saw my brother! If a show tell him to cut my throat open he would probably do it!!!

and you still let him watch TV?! that's just irresponisble.

There nothing i can do about it! I have no control or power over him. He just don't listen to me. Here is an example (This quote come from a conversation not long ago)

Me: Your to close to the Tv man, do you wanna wear glasse like me?
My Brother:[/b] Whoooooo-Djiaaa! Nuyaaaah! Attack dayaaaaah!!!! *Make random stupid sound and play Pomeon or something like that...*
Me: Hello? YOOOHOOO???
My Brother: Waaaahhaa *Insert stupid attack name here" Dziiiiii!!! Iv beaten you hahahahaha!!!
Me: Im talking to you!
My Brother: Yaaahoooo tshuuuuwheeee!!! Im too strong yehahahaha!!!
Me: Its only in your head you know....
My Brother: You shut up you big vomit carrot (Yeah, that one of his insult!)

He does not relise that im WAAAAY older then him. To him, im still a "kid" he's too stupid to understand the concept of teenager.

by **Tammuz** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:14 pm

and what makes you think cartoons with clearly lineated good guys and bad guys will change your brother?

by **Zombie Starscream** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:50 pm

Or you could just take away the TV. He might protest a bit for a while, but he'll survive. Or even get rid of the TV.

Oh no I feel a bit of a rant coming on, everybody stand clear!: I hate TV. Whenever the things are in the house, people usually want to incline their heads towards them and go zombie instead of talking to a real person in the same room with them. I want to have a chance to talk to them, not compete with a picture box for their attention. It drives me crazy when car makers add the things to the backs of seats so the kiddies won't get bored. Boredom is a part of life, not every part of it will be fun and exciting. But boredom can lead to creativity, like trying out new things or deciding to meet that lonely old person instead of watching another episode of Idol. TVs aren't all bad, they really can be fun and educational. Its when they are so all over the place and used so much that they start to become a substitute for a real life. I don't watch as much TV anymore. Its a lot of fun doing something (even badly) then watching somebody else do it. :end rant

News Credits: 2 · by **Nico** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:58 am

I only watch TV friday night, 'cuz thats when anime play. Except ofr that, im trying to avoid TV.

News Credits: 1 · by **Venomous Prime** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:41 am

Zombie Starscream wrote:Or you could just take away the TV. He might protest a bit for a while, but he'll survive. Or even get rid of the TV.

Oh no I feel a bit of a rant coming on, everybody stand clear!: I hate TV. Whenever the things are in the house, people usually want to incline their heads towards them and go zombie instead of talking to a real person in the same room with them. I want to have a chance to talk to them, not compete with a picture box for their attention. It drives me crazy when car makers add the things to the backs of seats so the kiddies won't get bored. Boredom is a part of life, not every part of it will be fun and exciting. But boredom can lead to creativity, like trying out new things or deciding to meet that lonely old person instead of watching another episode of Idol. TVs aren't all bad, they really can be fun and educational. Its when they are so all over the place and used so much that they start to become a substitute for a real life. I don't watch as much TV anymore. Its a lot of fun doing something (even badly) then watching somebody else do it. :end rant

I think your post loses credibility when you are posting it on a site dedicated to a series of TV shows, but that just be my look at it.