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Before you go off accusing me that this is not in any way relevant to anime, allow me to prove you wrong.

First, a question to those who watched the G.I.Joe movie, how did you find it? Was it awesome? Was it bad? Did it make you RAEG? Did it make you cry?

I ask this because last Sunday, I watched G.I.Joe on the big screen, and thanks to the comments I’ve seen on twitter, I knew what I was in for. If you ask me how I found it, I’d say I enjoyed it, but for the wrong reasons. I left the cinema laughing, trying to imitate ze French traitor guy and his weerd accent and mouth geeesture. I was trolling the movie (because it’s just begging to be trolled), laughing at the sudden keyword-triggered dramatic flashbacks, laughing at the whole “HAHA! You thought I was dead but no!” revive revival plot device used [without even an inch of foreshadowing, which made it all the more lulz], the “Sensei’s new pupil beat me I am a failure at life and I must be evulll!” plot device, etc.

I mentioned this to my Dear Officemates, but unfortunately, I got an eyebrow-raise and a “Your expectations are too high” retort, because “enjoying something for the wrong reason” simply means my expectation was skewed in the first place, amirite?

After watching, I tweeted the sarcastic “wow G.I.Joe is like the KEWLEST MOVIE EVER MAN, like whatever… lulz” I mean, you’ve got these awesome Nanomites which can be used in the field of medical science, in weaponry, puppetry(?), and in Plastic Surgery — the ultimate revolutionary technology! Kewl right? Now one officemate of mine who saw my tweet thought I was being angry [again] at G.I.Joe, and another officemate who saw my message in facebook replied: “huwag kang magulo” –> translation: “STFU you wet-blanket fag.” (exaggeration intentional) OMG I am a wet-blanket I FAIL AT LIFE BAWWW /wrist [I still love y'all, but you know I won't back down without a fight!]

Doujou kyoukan~! ;__;

Had I been all the more defensive of my “stance” (it was enjoyable, but you can’t deprive me of the right to point out its weaknesses t(’_’t) ), the whole “debacle” would’ve turned into a pile of mess like this (edited screenshot – will popup in its own window; original website link here):

I’d say I found G.I.Joe enjoyable, but that would be clouded by the fact that I was spouting all the lulz and trolling remarks. Officemate(s) would point that I’m an ass for expecting some deep sh*t storyline from G.I.Joe, and in defense I would say that just because it’s G.I.Joe doesn’t mean you can overlook its flaws, that just because it’s fun doesn’t mean you can’t poke fun at it on its own expense. Just because you found G.I.Joe 100% fun doesn’t mean you’re any better than those who sees its “objective crappyness”, and vice versa. Just because you enjoyed watching G.I.Joe and its “trainwreck quality” didn’t irk you doesn’t mean you’re any better than those who didn’t.

People are divided over G.I.Joe, just like how it was with Transformers, and I can see why. On one hand you have the pro-faction who enjoyed the movie, and the con-faction who criticized the film for its brainlessness. And somewhere in between you also have the group of people who thought the movie was a trainwreck but enjoyed it nonetheless, or those who enjoyed it for the lulz, “for the wrong reasons”. And somewhere deeper in there you have people pointing fingers at the opposing faction and consider that opinion to be “WRONG” — the group of people I love to hate.

No opinion is wrong, but it irks me to bits when someone holds on to absolutes or are in the extreme leftist or rightist side that they fail to see the balanced opinion that lies somewhere in the middle, refusing to see where the other side is coming from, oftentimes the root of stupid arguments — too prideful to acknowledge the truth in other people’s opinions, just because it differs from theirs. Going back to G.I.Joe, as others before me have said, it didn’t boast of a compelling praiseworthy storyline (it was “flat”), it’s full of cliches, it’s a trainwreck, BUT you can’t deny that it’s FUN. (Or You can also say that “it’s fun, but it’s full of cliches etc.” depending on your point-of-view, see it as half-full or half-empty, I guess my opinion rubbed my officemates the wrong way because it seemed like I was seeing things from the half-empty POV)

Completely Relevant ^_~

Situations like this always brings me back to Toshokan Sensou. At that time I really thought that the naysayers “analyzing” and treating Toshokan Sensou as SRS BSNS were wet blankets and that their opinion were skewed (lol), but looking back, I can see that those people were simply stating the truth. They just let it ruin their enjoyment, that’s the difference. Even Kabitzin pokes fun at the plot holes, he just didn’t let it affect his overall perception. And considering there were other redeeming factors going for it — the characters are <3 and the raburabu is <3 — the plot holes could be forgiven, but we know it's still there. I still love Toshokan Sensou despite the "absurdity" of the plot and the half-baked elements. But I digress.

While I can’t blame my officemates for shutting me up because I would “dampen their fun”, I would’ve gained a lot more respect for them if they actually tried to see where I was coming from instead of stamping “You’re No Fun, You’re Wrong, GTFO” on my opinion. Or maybe they’re just pissing me off on purpose because they know how defensive I can be, whatever. In the end, it’s all about balance~ As I was scourging for G.I.Joe reviews around the net I came across these two posts, “Six Ways the GI Joe Movie Could Be Better Than Transformers 2″ and “G.I. Joe will make Michael Bay jealous”, respectively.

I really like how both these posts acknowledged the “crappyness” of G.I.Joe while not overlooking its fun factor at the same time (and LOL @ how G.I.Joe is even better than Transformers 2 XD), they’re both there in the first place! Objectivity is a tricky tricky thing, and though it might not really exist (since everything is subjective), I’d like to think that looking at both sides of the spectrum in arguments before coming up with your own conclusion would lead you one step closer to the said “objectivity”.

Truth be told, the reason why I’m so butthurt and letdown by G.I.Joe: Rise of the Cobra is because of the utter lack of Channing Tatum MANSERVICE. That would’ve easily redeemed for his lacklustre performance (Marlon Wayans as Ripcord and Rachel Nichols as ‘Scarlett’ were the ones who shone in this movie) or saved this movie from being a total trainwreck. Talk about how to waste a guy’s hawtness! Curse you, Stephen Sommers! Learn to pander to your female audience next time (learn from the Human Torch hawt pandering 101)! t(^_^t)

Credits to Shuuichi and Kazui for the wonderful IkuXDoujou Toshosen fanarts.

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1. I want my own Juiz too….