Transformers: Cyberworld, Bumblebee Gets Yamcha'd

lastmaximal

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That's partly my point. The line isn't used a lot there, let alone enough to be the shorthand face the humor is referred to by. But parroting the meme has created precisely the opposite impression -- a loud opinion used as a convenient wedge against something that's built up enough hype to generate backlash.

There's no shortage of actual lines and scenes that fall flat. But those come up quite rarely in this discourse; instead it's this and "well, that happened", both of which are staples of older cartoons and sitcoms but not actually a substantial part of the media being complained about. "He's right behind me" is from Thor 4, but that one usage becoming the face of this sort of humor -- and getting inflated into "MCU Humor", not "another example of why Thor 4 wasn't good", has led to this slippery slope of assumptions.

It's a shorthand, sure, but the spread of it has become misleading (you yourself were led to anchor your point on the assumption that "it is used a lot there"). "It" being that line is just not accurate; "it" being "that type of comedy" is more debatable.

The problem with that debate is the assumption resulting from the "MCU humor" label that it's this monolith, like there's ONE comedic style that's employed (trotting out said non-examples AS examples). Or that "humor I don't like" is "MCU humor", rather than separating slapstick from quips from wordplay from situational humor etc (and most crucially, effective vs non-effective cases within each of those). It's all just "if I don't like it, it's MCU humor".

(Similarly, I understand the tendency to view Feige as the driving force behind this as he's often characterized as the sole architect behind this whole thing, but this issue in particular is one where there are more immediate, obvious likely culprits.

Internally to the MCU, I don't even think Feige's all that closely tied to the comedy quality issue. There are producer/architect decisions I can lay at his feet that could've led to that, like hiring the writer for Quantumania or whoever wrote "Illumi-what-y" in Dr Strange 2, or letting Taika basically go off leash for Thor 5, and that's just the comedy -- Feige and whoever else is the braintrust can be pointed to for a lot of other arc-level and production-decision mistakes.

But the fingerprints on the comedy in those movies are more from those writers, not Feige, I don't think. I don't even know if there's one signature comedic style running through these, let alone his.)

Worse, and sort of getting back to what Sabrblade brought up originally tied to this episode, this reductive thinking has then mutated into essentially Humor Bad, grousing about humor appearing at all -- in the MCU, and eventually in anything. (And, as mentioned above, it'll be called MCU Humor.)
 
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Platypus Prime

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Citizen
Thank you Richard! I had mentioned that Hot Wheels SkyByte was the one thing from cyber world I was looking for. I was at Target just Friday. Nothing. But today there was ONE, a friend saw it, and now I've got it! As utterly bizarre as the original pictures made it appear! I'll try to get a good picture later.

Well, that probably wraps up my Cyberworld collection. On to Age Of The Primes where I'm going to define 'complete' as 'taller SkyByte and Combaticons/Bruticus'. Possibly Megatron. I've found it's easier and less expensive to be completionist if you pay no attention to what the word actually means.
 

NovaSaber

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Citizen
The TV Tropes page lists an example from ancient Greece:
Older Than Feudalism: Aristophanes' The Frogs features the probable Ur-Example in the underworld, where Xanthias worries about grotesque monsters. His master Dionysus boasts that he actually wants to meet a monster to do something daring, and then a shapeshifting monster actually comes in.
 

Donocropolis

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Finally home from vacation, and I had to run to Target on my lunchbreak to grab a couple of things. They had a few Cyberworld toys up on the pegs, so I grabbed a Megabull and a Dino-Junkion, which were the two figures that were "must-haves" for me.

Trying to think of a good Junkion sounding name for Snarl, as I plan on putting him on my Junkion shelf as a new character. I'm thinking something that implies "obsolete" to go with his dinosaur alt-mode.
 

Platypus Prime

Well-known member
Citizen
"Shale", which can refer to corrosion and rusting on metal, and also rock where you can find oil?
I'm not familiar with the character, but if it has a club, Shale could smash someone with their shillelagh...'fracking' the other Dinos call the attack, though no one knows why...
 

Haywire

Collecter of Gobots and Godzilla
Citizen
Superceded. Starts with an "S" like a good Dinobot name, implies obsolescence, and happens a lot with auto parts, which kinda fits with the Junkion bit.
 

Platypus Prime

Well-known member
Citizen
Depending on what the Junkion has been watching, "Scrappy Slagging Spastic BotBot BloodyBooger The Second", function: Insult Comic. Repeating his own name causes Hasbro executives to have to check British English dictionaries to be sure they won't be sued.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
The first-draft script for TFTM introduced a young but massive Junkion who befriended Grimlock (and whose role as the Dinobots' spunky sidekick was likely later taken by Wheelie in the finalized movie), and his name was Scrapo (pronounced like "Scrap-O" rather than "Scrape-O").
 

Donocropolis

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The first-draft script for TFTM introduced a young but massive Junkion who befriended Grimlock (and whose role as the Dinobots' spunky sidekick was likely later taken by Wheelie in the finalized movie), and his name was Scrapo (pronounced like "Scrap-O" rather than "Scrape-O").

That's pretty interesting! Never heard that before.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
It" being that line is just not accurate; "it" being "that type of comedy" is more debatable.

The problem with that debate is the assumption resulting from the "MCU humor" label that it's this monolith, like there's ONE comedic style that's employed (trotting out said non-examples AS examples).
I'd argue that yes, there is one monolithic "style" of monolithic humour. "That type of comedy" after all, implies a sort of general vibe that the MCU's humour falls into.

While it's perhaps more accurate to describe is as "overly quippy" or "snarky," or "overly quippy or snarky at the expense of itself" it is, as you said, shorthand.
"He's right behind me, isn't he?" and "Well that just happened" are effective "descriptors" without going into a more detailed analysis of why "MCU humour" has fallen out of favour.

And to clarify... I don't really see "MCU humour" as a sledge to attack the broader comedic stylings of other works. I rolled my eyes when people described the humour in TFO as "MCU humour," and I'm rolling my eyes when people describe the humour in CW as "MCU humour."

To me MCU humour is a very specific type of snarky quippiness that undermines the dramatic weight a scene might usually have, a sort of conversational snark that's aping Wheedon's dialogue style made famous on Buffy. No shock, he wrote and directed the first two Avengers movies and everyone since has been trying to copy him.

Or more precisely, he dialed up RDJ's Tony Stark to eleven and everyone else has been trying to replicate that performance.

Either way... no I don't think it applies to broad family friendly humour, nor do I use it as a sledge against humour I just don't like... but I do think "MCU humour" has its own unique and, yes, monolithic style.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I'm reminded of a time when people felt the MCU adding humor to its movies felt like a breath of fresh air, starting with the first Guardians of the Galaxy, as that film came off the back of the first three Phase 2 movies that were all pretty grim at best and pretty bleak at worst, which were Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
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Yeah, Iron Man 3 had its serious moments, but a good few gags, too.

"I'm the best."
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
"We have a connection."

And not to relitigate the Mandarin twist, but the scene where Tony finds out what's really going on is straight up played for comedy.

Iron Man 3's trailer presents a darker movie, but the actual film is exactly what you'd get from a Shane Black/RDJ collab. See also, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

I think "MCU humour" evolved in a few stages.
The first was, of course, RDJ's take on Tony Stark. It really was great casting. The dude had a lot of parallels with Stark, being a talented and charismatic person who had let demons get in the way, and RDJ's quippy and snarky take fit certain comic depictions of Tony where he's well aware of how smart he is.
Iron Man was a sleeper hit and gave the MCU project a shot in the arm from jump. And you see that carrying through. Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel both turned their leads into sarcastic quip machines in an attempt to replicate RDJ's Stark. I'd even argue Ant-Man, though it's a bit less biting there.

Joss Whedon had already developed his quippy, joke-heavy dialogue style via Buffy and RDJ's take on Stark really complimented that. So it's no shock that when Whedon was given the reigns to The Avengers, he turned MCU Tony up to eleven.
Avengers was the last real potential stumbling block in hindsight for the MCU. Sure the stand alones had been well received but could something with the scale of The Avengers work? Turns out it did. And MCU writers have been leaning into a Whedon-esque quippy style of writing since.

Ultimately I put it on Keven Feige because... well... he's the guy in charge. I don't know if this style of humour is his personal taste, if he thinks that's what's going to have the widest appeal, or if he's simply reacting to what worked and wants to replicate it (RDJ's Stark, Whedon's quip-heavy dialogue) but regardless, that's what he's putting out there (haven't seen Fantastic Four yet, unsure how that will land, I've heard it feels truly distinct in the MCU).

You also have Whedon burning out after Age of Ultron due to producer demands, Edgar Wright dropping out of Ant-Man over creative differences with "the Studio," and Nia DaCosta basically throwing her hands up and going "it's a Kevin Feige production" when talking about her time directing The Marvels.

Feige has been the MCU's strength, a single guy coordinating this massive project, but when you have one guy who's the final word on all of these movies... yeah... you're gonna start to notice his finger prints. Or the finger prints of his team. Six of one, half a dozen of the other at the end of the day.

I guess I don't have a wider point here beyond thinking that "MCU humour" is definitely a thing, but I think it's overused. I think it's what it says on the tin, the style of quippy humour found in MCU movies.

While the MCU's success guarantees that there will be some influence on wider pop culture, I don't think using "MCU humour" as a sledgehammer to knock any humour someone may find lacking in any piece of media is particularly helpful or descriptive.

Still, "MCU humour" is definitely something you'll pick up on if you watch enough MCU projects.
 


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