TR Reviews: G.I. Joe Renegades, Transformers Prime, and Young Justice

These will be short, but since I saw all three new cartoons while drunk on Friday night, I figured I could share my thoughts.

?
? G.I. Joe: Renegades
Better than I guessed it would be. Yes, it’s ugly, but it’s decently animated and the sound is much, much better than we’ve heard in all the preview clips. The storytelling and characterization is good; you won’t be blown away or anything, but it’s very solid, the Joes on the run premise looks fun and different, and I’d say it’s a pretty good time for regular nerds and Joe fans alike. If only everyone didn’t look like background characters on Jackie Chan Adventures, it’d be pretty great.

? Transformers: Prime
I saw a lot of people giving Prime great reviews after it aired, and I can’t for the life of me understand why. Prime was terrible. It looks terrible — there wasn’t a scene that didn’t take place on a completely flat surface — the animation is terrible, especially for the token kids, the token kids have no personality other than their cliches, there are only five Autobots total, they only fought generic Decepticon drones… it’s like someone saw Animated, and decided it was far too complex and needed to be immensely dumbed down. It’s the least epic Transformers series I’ve ever seen, and while it may technically be better animated than Beast Wars, it’s like two years better, not the 12 it should be. I have zero idea why any Transformers fan (or anyone over 5-years-old) would enjoy watching Prime. Seriously, explain it to me.

? Young Justice
It probably helped that I watched Renegades and Prime right before it, but Young Justice looked beautiful. It had the best character designs, the best animation, and the best voice work — it looked as high quality as any of DC’s direct-to-DVD movies. If it had a problem, it that’s the story was pretty basic and straightforward as the group of young superheroes joined forces, but it was pretty much what you’d expect from an hour-premiere. I assume once the show starts for real in January, and brings in more heroes, villains, and bits of the DC universe, things will pick up considerably. But I do have to wonder if they can maintain the same animation quality once it goes weekly