looks terrible.

Those screenshots look a LOT better that what we’ve seen before.

And Destro’s mask looks freaky.

@ Doctorteeth

You don’t think these screenshots look better than anything we’ve seen before?

http://generalsjoes.com/wp-content/gallery/hubworld-renegades-launch/07_TUNNEL_RAT.jpg
http://generalsjoes.com/wp-content/gallery/hubworld-renegades-launch/08_ROADBLOCK.jpg

Considering they’re the first real non-shaky pics we’ve seen I think they look great. The art style is very reminiscent of X-Men Evolutions, which is ok by me. Again, I’ll wait until I see it in action before judging it, but I’m starting to get more excited.

Sweet Mary J!

Lets hope they pull an “American Dragon: Jake Long” on this and completely revamp the style somewhere down the line.

But Destro, whats up with your mask?

Those Cobra troopers look rad. Like a combination of Vipers, Tele-Vipers, and Blue Shirts. If their toys are done up modern/POC style, rather than an animated Clone Wars style, I’ll be buying tons!

Yeesh, I think I’m going to be sick. No, actually, I am already way past sick, being sick of seeing this sad excuse for a Joe cartoon series, that is. I hate to say it, but at this point, only having seen the character designs, I would rather watch those old DiC episodes and I gotta say, those were hard to sit through, possibly even tying with the (A.D.D. targeted) Sigma 6 cartoon of a few years ago. These shots are as bad as anything else we’ve seen so far, if not possibly worse. Monkeyboy is right though, the art is actually so simplistic it needs even MORE detail to even be worth looking at, much less watching it.

As an artist myself, I am seriously UNimpressed, and quite insulted by the complete lack of any actual talent being exhibited by these ridiculous designs. This is possibly the worst Snake Eyes ever conceived of in cartoon style, and Storm Shadow is just as bad. At least BOTH of those characters looked sort of cool in the S6 cartoon and even cooler in Resolute, but more on the “designs” (HA!) later.

Seriously, if they wanted to go cheap, then there are dozens of artists I personally know out there, and likely hundreds more that I don’t know, whom are of much higher calibur than the chimps they have working this project from the ground up. I take that back and apologize for the comment…That was COMPLETELY unfair to chimps. The kicker is, these other artists would work cheap and STILL do an awesome job, rather than the cheap job we are getting with even cheaper “art”, and I use the term “art” loosely.

As for the character designs themselves, I can design significantly better ones without even having to think about it (You don’t believe me, Hasbro? Call me up and we’ll talk.). I mean, here we have stick figure Scarlett, “standard” boring teenage looking Duke, scrawny scarecrow Snake Eyes with baggy pants (never seen THAT design before…Seriously?!), shrimpy box-style Storm Shadow, squinty Tunnel Rat (hmmm, a throwback to the bastard son of Carrot Top we saw in S6′s craptoon… I wonder, does he snack on bugs too?!), a plain-Jane Baroness, a Masters of the Universe reminiscent Trapjaw (or Secret Saturday villain) version of Destro, (seems like Hasbro’s concept guys have been stealing more and more from Mattel’s MotU toyline of old, first with the Attak Trak looking PoC Ice vehicle and now with TrapJaw Destro, there are probably more no doubt, but those are the most obvious…) and a FAT Buddha belly Roadblock/Heavy Duty guy with stupid lamb chop sideburns. All-in-all, I think someone has been watching too much Boondocks/Afro-Samurai and then tried to do a Joe series based on a sad theme and lame knockoff art styling of these “popular” series’. Even worse, they are doing it BADLY.

If the figures even remotely resemble these sad little frames of design/concept (again, I use these terms loosely), I definitely won’t be picking any of them up. However, if the figures are done more PoC style, with appropriate detailing and gear (or better) then I’ll give them a chance and possibly pick the figures up, even if I don’t watch the cartoon (which if this continuing parade of lameness is any indication), I won’t be watching it at all, which also means I will not be helping Hasbro’s ratings on their sad little online “hub” network.

On that note, I’m sorry, but I just really don’t like watching “tv” on my computer at all. I’d rather watch TV on, well, TV. Call me crazy, but I thought that was why we HAVE TV’s and cable or satellite or whatever in the first place. Sure, you can see lots of cool stuff on the net, but that’s what Youtube is for, and I like a nice big screen to actually let me see the action and detail of what I’m watching. If Hasbro wants to launch a new cartoon series, much less a new network, then it needs to be where people can just turn on the TV and go to the channel, because if kids are the target audience here, there are tons of them who aren’t allowed to just get online anytime they want, whereas TV is more easily accessible, AND can be recorded from if they can’t be at home at the time of broadcast. There is no “Internet Guide” for TV shows like there is for television, therefore making it far more difficult to access these Hasbro toons than they otherwise should be, without having to actually log in to the site.

Yeah, I know all of the Net-heads out there will argue that watching online is the new and modern way to go, but Blu-ray was also supposed to have taken over DVD sales by now also, and it still hasn’t because they are overpriced. On the otherhand though, there really IS a plethora of gullible people out there who will believe anything they are told, especially if someone tells them that “X” is the cutting edge in technology and they shouldn’t miss out. Yeah, right. HD and Blu-ray, are both just what Digital was about 3 years or so ago…Overhyped and overpriced, no matter how “cool” it is or isn’t. Optical is far better than digital, but digital won out because it was overhyped in flood fashion and less costly to accomplish. Soooo, we get “digitally remastered” rather than “Optically Remastered” and therefore, enhanced beyond what digital (that is to say PIXELED) can offer us. Now it’s “Hi-Def” this-or-that, even so-called “hi-Def” sunglasses?!! What the…??! But I digress…

Now, I know I’ll probably be catching some flack on here for downing Hasbro’s “Renegades’ yes-boys”, by stating my thoughts and opinions on how terrible I think this cartoon series will be, but that’s okay. I’m also sure I’ll be hearing how I should be waiting to base my opinions on this abortion of quality, AFTER it releases and stains my retinas and thoughts with its putridity, and not at this stage of development. Well, guess what folks? By this point, what we see, is EXACTLY what we are going to get. They have already spent far too much money on what we’ve seen so far (which is atrocious at my generous best), for them to go back and completely redo everything because myself and a few others with good taste in artwork and conceptual design, disagree with the voices of unreason, who always seem to be unwilling to admit that Hasbro DOES mess up and give us some real turds from time to time.

Is it a conspiracy? Nope, it’s just Hasbro having a Diarhetic outburst again. No, we’re stuck with this albatross, and therefore, I AM basing my opinions on exactly what Hasbro is giving us. What they are giving us is crap, which basically amounts to an abortion of quality. Those who fear to say an ill word towards Hasbro in these situations, are the very people the rest of us have to thank for continually getting crapped on when it comes to actual “COOL” Joe stuff. Sure, they are going to get stuff wrong from time to time regardless, but if the “fans” speak up and tell them we don’t like this or that, instead of cowering in fear that they will suddenly decide to never ever make anymore Joe product (which is absurd) by being up front about not being happy with this or that, we stand a better chance of getting more that we are happy with and less that we find repulsive and unappealing. Just because it says “G.I. Joe” across it, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s even good, much less great.

I will stand by my opinions on this travesty of a cartoon, (just as I still do with the “Rise of Crap” movie), based upon all of the information and illustrations as they come out. At first, admittedly, I wasn’t keen on the idea of the “RENEGADES” cartoon idea, but I thought I’d give it a chance to prove it could be at least somewhat as good as “RESOLUTE” if not comparative, or even better. As the weeks and months have drawn on though, I find myself more and more disgusted and disappointed with each nugget of new information and even worse, with all the new art we’re being shown from the series. It is so pathetic, I just can’t accurately describe my displeasure with what Hasbro is doing here. Again, though, I assure you, what we are seeing is what we’ll be getting, and it isn’t that good at all. I know talent and quality, and this concept lacks all of it. If someone disagrees, that’s okay, but it doesn’t make them more right just because it says “GI Joe” on it. Mine is an opinion, as is anyone else’s, and is therefore just as valid as those who can’t say “No” to Hasbro. You don’t have to agree with me, but that doesn’t make me wrong either.

*(Disclaimer – This rant/post is intended as a genuine expression of opinion of the author (me), but also to entertain those who have a sense of humor and can appreciate satire and cynicism in the face of adversity and yes men. No chimps were harmed in the writing of this post…though it is possible that a few may have been offended. Again, sorry to all chimps reading this, especially astronaut chimps. This disclaimer has been brought to you by OpinionsAreLikeAholes-EverybodyHasThem, a subsidiary of HasbroDoesn’tCrapRosesEither, a WeMessUpGroup.) Have a nice day! :D

Thanks, for the kudos, HW! Glad you were entertained, that means my goal was a success, and the fact that you got a few laughs out of it, makes it all that much the better.

I just felt that it was finally time to say something about this nonsense, after having kept quiet, lo these many months, as new tidbits keep being pumped onto the site wholesale style. Enduring all of the retarded sounding “giddiness” from a select few over this series has been nearly unbearable, so I thought a fresh injection of honesty and alternate viewpoint was sorely needed to keep things from miring down further.

It may be coincidence, or it may not, but it seems like activity on here has diminished greatly in recent months as well, with so much focus being put on “RENEGADES”, and not so much on the toys aspect of things. I couldn’t say for sure, but it sure is an eerie parallel, one which I hope is untrue. This is such a good Joe site in general, I’d hate to think the cartoon focus had diminished peoples’ perceptions by boring them with this sad farce of a series.

With a name like “RENEGADES”, it has such possibilities, and makes me WANT to like it…BUT, the art and concepts have very quickly and unequivocably destroyed all possible interest I might have otherwise had for the series. Also the online airing factor has also greatly put me off from bothering to watch, as well, so Hasbro already has several MAJOR strikes against the cartoon and the “network”, at least from my perspective, and many others’ too, if not everyone. As a matter of fact, I was just really feeling like something needed to be said about the whole deal after a massive conversation erupted with a (not small) group of Joe fans at a convention I attended as a guest artist this past weekend. These guys were seriously pissed with everything that they had seen and heard about this Renegades cartoon recently, and after several of them had expressed extreme disappointment with the RoC movie and toylines, it seemed that this was the last straw for them. I couldn’t really disagree with them on anything they had to say, except for very minor details and such, but I did mention that the PoC line and Resolute figures were pretty cool and that they should give those a chance even if they boycotted the cartoon.

Now, I don’t know if that helped them one way or another, but considering that they were gathered looking at my Joe artwork when the conversation picked up initially, I was front row for the entire discussion and at one point there was shouting and swearing, when a couple of them shouted out to the congoers at large, “Why the hell can’t m#$@!%&fing Hasbro give us a movie or cartoon where the characters look as awesome as this ANNNND be as cool?!” While I appreciated the compliment, lol, I did have to ask them to quiet their voices down as there were kids running about the show with their parents…plus the Klingons and Romulans across the way looked a bit put off, although the Stormtroopers and Mandalorians from the 501st gave us a thumbs up and a nod (seemingly of approval), so I guess at least a few of them were Joe fans as well, lol.

At any rate, people are not happy with Renegades, even though Hasbro is trying to dazzle folks with their little Snake Eyes clip to promote the cartoon. Like I said, what we are seeing now is what we’re getting stuck with guys, so if you aren’t happy now, you likely won’t be when the cartoon airs later on either. Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but it is what it is.

That being said…I’m out!

*(Disclaimer – This post wasn’t meant to offend anyone, especially not any chimps still reading this thread, but merely to express and entertain. The rants/views contained herein are not exclusively the views/rants of the ranter, but are also not 100% fully indicative of the random viewer either. Read at your own risk, but do not operate heavy machinery (nor text) while reading. Some side effects may be worse than the actual affliction, but if RENEGADES is ignored then inflamation will go down and hemorraging should cease immediately, also vision will be unaffected further, otherwise bleeding of the eyes is a risk.) Happy motoring!