The 3 Eras Pattern That Ruins Franchises

[@koperekhabsburdzki43]

As Historian i can say it all started with Ancient Egypt, where we have "Old Kingdom", "Middle Kingdom" and "New Kingdom". But for real that's interesting take of states of pop culture franchisees

[@james_-zx2be]

The morphological life and death cycle of a creative entity-whether it be a human civilisation or a franchise.

[@raimiallpowerful2020]

I've noticed this with Transformers, we have the earlier cartoons (primarily just G1 and beast wars), then the 2000s was the second era to me, all the unique ideas and cartoons like animated, prime and of course the movies to mixed results. The next era started with devastation (I still love devastation). And now you're hardpressed to find transformer toys that aren't just G1. Personally those designs are my favourite for a lot of them so I like it. But stuff like rotb or the war for cybertron trilogy reflect this to me. Spider-man too, you have the highschool era in the 60s and some 70s stories too. Then you get peter getting married, living in his own home and lots of great new ideas that help him grow up. Then the 2000s, ultimate spider-man started the high school peter wankfest that we're only just leaving now with the games, peter b parker and.... the new ultimate spider-man? kinda ironic. Although we have a weird other problem with them feeling the same due to that Miles seems to HAVE to play a part. I like Miles but every spider-man I think, rushes to him too fast and peter has the same characterisation. It's like there's two eras happening concurrently right now.

[@calebjohnson3537]

you can honestly find any era of transformers. we just had a beast wars line not too long ago and the current line is literally pulling characters for every era.

[@Mr.Maguro]

More or less, Beast Wars was very experimental and controversial for it's time. While both Animated, Prime and later shows borrow from it, they still use G1 characters and concepts as a safe net. Mind you, I speak as someone that loves TFA.

[@deffa429]

Same thing with tmnt, kinda

[@Mr.Maguro]

@@deffa429 It's odd still. The 80's cartoon diverged a lot from the Mirage Comics. The 2003 diverged from the 80's cartoon but was more faithful to the comics. The 2012 was derivative of all three, ans Rise experimented completely, angering fans that disliked change. Mutant Mayhem is a bit more "retro" compared to Rise.

[@HVVVVVVVV]

And then theres the Prime Wars Trilogy and War for Cybertron Trilogy which tried to be “G1 but Grittier” to middling results.

[@toanuva6178]

1:22 thank you for using the Force Unleashed theme, 6:36 and the Republic Commando theme

[@The4thSnake]

Good music that doesn't get your video murdered for copyright like the film score. It's why I used the KOTOR2 theme in my last video.

[@JEF_W]

@@The4thSnakebtw, what’s your thoughts on The Force Unleashed? I think it’s the best game of all time, my favorite game.

[@The4thSnake]

@@JEF_W Fantastic game and a great addition to the OG canon. Shame the sequel was underwhelming and its cliffhanger never got resolved.

[@JEF_W]

@@The4thSnake I thought the second one was ok. But hey, to each their own

[@juanca2567]

@@The4thSnakeYou should have seen Pokemon. After a successful tetralogy from Kanto to Sinnoh, Unova tried to experiment more than the fans were ready for at the time, leading to constant nostalgia bait in the 3DS titles to a laughable degree. Kalos was like “Remember Viridian Forest (Santalune Forest)? Remember the Farfetch’d trade (the first in game trade)? REMEMBER THE KANTO STARTERS (the entire selling point in marketing)? Don’t you remember Kanto? DON’T YOU REMEMBER THAT WE WERE THERE FROM THE START?!”, so of course people were mad. Then Alola brought more Kanto stuff, cause “Remember Sandshrew? Remember Vulpix? REMEMBER MEOWTH? Giovanni’s back! Get ready for more Team Rocket!”. Sword and Shield marketing, not the best cause “REMEMBER CHARIZARD!!”. Legends Arceus and Scarlet and Violet finally broke the curse.

[@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158]

This can also apply perfectly to Star Trek as well. You have original series (including first few movies) which were (mostly) lighthearted adventures with some philosophy. After that, they tried something new with each new series with polarizing results, with Next Generation and DS9 being well received while Voyager and Enterprise were met with slightly colder reception. And then you have modern take on Star Trek which relies too much on nostalgia and cheap spectacle, while completely misunderstanding what made series popular in the first place.

[@austinreed7343]

I feel like the nostalgia pandering era only applies to the Kelvin films, the rest is the Destruction era.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Ugh, NuTrek... You can’t even say you don’t like what they’re doing to the series nor make any jokes about it without someone chiming in to tell you you’re whatever word of the month it is because of course they would.

[@codyadams3051]

Honestly I feel like new trek really did manage to come around in the end. It took way too long, but lower decks is great, prodigy is probably one of the best kids shows of recent years, Picard season 3 was awesome, discovery has been pretty good since season 4, and strange new world is also pretty enjoyable. It's not great and we didn't ever reach the heights of deep space 9 or next generation at their best, but now that this era is starting to wind down I can safely say I like more of it then I dislike.

[@william3100]

​@codyadams3051 No it's not! Discovery had terrible, underdeveloped characters, Lower decks and Picard season 3 was boring and derivative and Prodigy had annoying characters with predictable character arcs and stories. I'm not even a fan of Star Trek and I can tell you that there is an overall downgrade I quality and creativity. At least the middle era tried to do new things. That is always more interesting than trying to pander to nostalgia or any other bad trope today.

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

Terminator Salvation is a genuinely good movie and canceling its sequel, knowing what we got now was one of the worst decisions ever

[@VonMozgus]

It made 371mil with a budget of 200. The thing with Terminators, all of these movies are made by different studios. They buy rights, thinking they would make a profit, the movie bombs, the rights get sold to the next studio

[@ScottyKombat]

Agreed, Salvation was actually really good.

[@guy_with_no_name7317]

I know right? though I felt like the comics continuation of it(Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle) to be pretty good

[@danielyoungblood3931]

Me personally, I've been of the opinion that there should have never been more than two Terminator movies for a very long time. That being said, Salvation actually did have an interesting idea and was certainly a much more unique concept compared to just going back in time again.

[@ShaneFullerYT]

Yeeeeah, Salvation was that movie where at first it's like "GGGGRRRRR FUQ THAT MOVIE!!!!🖕🤬", but then overtime ESPECIALLY after getting Genisys & Dark Fate... -Thanos Voice- "Perhaps I was too harsh on you"😂😂😂

[@alexandrefrauches132]

Unfortunelly no franchise is able to keep a good quality forever. The more the creators try to do new stuff, the more risk it becomes to displease the old fans, who are more used to the classic stuff and are not ready to move from the comfort zone. On other hand, when they tried to go back to the classic stuff, they risk causing the same problem for those who were enjoying the new stuff. No matter the creators choice, he will have to handle people's opinion, both the ones who like and the ones who dislike and decide how he will move on with the franchise.

[@Tevi_L7151]

Therefore, we all need to learn to say goodbye to franchises. Make completed stories and maybe once a year celebrating them and their contribution to storytelling for cinema, games, comics, but without continuation. New franchises can take inspiration from them, or the universe can be used for new stories that will no longer be connected to the original . And in general, that's how it should be

[@alexandrefrauches132]

@@Tevi_L7151 Or fans should just learn to accept when the franchise is no longer for them and just enjoy the things they had and move on to other stuff. It's bc franchise keeps going that those characters and stories are so memorable, bc every new adaptation is the introduction of people to this new universe. For exemple: I didn't grow up with the original SW trilogy, but with the prequels. It was through them I learned about the OT and while I have some criticism towards the sequels, and don't hate them nor I will try to force others to share my opinion, like the toxic fans tried to do.

[@Tevi_L7151]

@@alexandrefrauches132 understandable. It took 20 years for the same Hayden Christensen to finally get some love. But still, I was lucky enough to see the original trilogy on TV as a kid before the prequels (or at the time of release of TFM, in 2003), but I didn't read the comics. And yet I also understand the complaints about the sequels, and about the prequels in the same way, but don't hate that much

[@UnifiedEntity]

It's not just the fact that changes will put off classic fans, it's the fact those changes don't land to convince the classic fans that it was worth it. If Sonic Unleashed and Frontiers came out after Adventures instead of Shadow and 06, it would've had a better reception (if done well at the time ofcourse). Hell Zelda is doing grand for itself.

[@Dave102693]

@@Tevi_L7151that’s truly what the issue ie

[@TrueUnderDawgGaming]

Should’ve titled it “Three ways to Kill a Franchise!” But great video 😜

[@Mr.Maguro]

Kamen Rider feels like a franchise that follows, yet has, generally, made it work for the most part. The Showa Era laid the foundations, especially the original series, to the point that the other Showa riders follow more or less the same format. The 90s Movies and early Heisei are definetly more experimental, but largely in line with what came before to reintroduce the franchise. Then Ryuki expands by self-deconstructing the series and introduced the idea of multiple Riders. Followed by the huge success of Den-O opening the gates for a more lighthearted tone going forward. Neo Heisei and Reiwa are definetly the retro era, but often feature crossovers with not just Showa, but also the previous Heisei heroes. And then the Showa era remakes like The First/Next, Amazons and Black Sun, are fundamentally completely different experiences from their source material. Even Shin Kamen Rider which recreates the original show shot for shot takes it's fair share of liberties.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Gundam is a weird creature since you’d to specify what would actually constitutes as an era beyond the broad categories of Showa, Heisei and others. Do we label the Gundam shows between MGS Gundam One to Victory or Turn-A as an era because Yoshiyuko Tomino was creatively involved, do we label Gundam shows made during 1970’s-1990’s as an era because they were before the shift to digital or label the Gundam shows from Iron-Blooded Orphans to now as the streaming era since they’re more readily available on streaming services than prior shows? Doesn’t help that you have Gundam media that exists within an established century like Universal Century, ones that are brand new never before seen settings, ones that are non-canon and the occasional revisits to preexisting centuries like 08th MS Team released after Victory but before Turn A and set during the One Year War.

[@srcoeiu6100]

I'm not gonna lie most of what you said was cap as hell

[@internetera1523]

The only time Mario stagnated was the NSMB era of the 2d games.The 3d games always bring different ideas

[@tjlnintendo]

Ye, the Mario series I feel does it right where keep the core identity of the series while experimenting around it rather than radically changing it into something unrecognizable. The only exception would be the NSMB series. The first one was unique, but later ones, especially the last 2, felt shallow with how safe and unoriginal they were. Then you got Paper Mario which suffers from the Sonic issue with it changing its identity so much and it became unrecognizable and fractured the fanbase

[@CMCAdvanced]

There's not a single poor Mario game made by Nintendo

[@tjlnintendo]

@@CMCAdvanced I say Paper Mario Sticker star comes close to their poorest.

[@CMCAdvanced]

@tjlnintendo there has to be a worst by virtue of being things. Just keep it to the cdi games and we can all go home without any bloodbath

[@MogusMasterSaikawa22]

nsmb is amazing

[@ddwkc]

You can do that YT creators too! Angryvideogame nerd has his classic era, then the era he experiments and go to his horror roots, and then we have the current era which is stale. Of course patterning isn't 100% as it can be used to reinforce bias. Still I guess the basic cycle for lot of franchises, but more like get popular -> experiment or branch out and get mixed results -> go back to the roots or have no ideas anymore and just rehash the past. Some may never reach the second or third phase so they may not fit a model.

[@austinreed7343]

He’s also beginning to have a “Destruction Era” where he mostly does modern games and good games.

[@tamashironin2932]

In a weird way, the sw7 to 9 is very like mk9 to 11. You have the "that's the copy of the first" (sw7-mk9), you have the "try somethings" (mk10-Sw8) and the "OMG no ones is happy" (mk11-sw9).

[@jackdaone6469]

Yeah, though I’d day MK10 at least tried something positive while SW8 took a gigantic dump on the franchise.

[@firetarrasque4667]

@@jackdaone6469Nah, SW8 was the only one of the new trilogy that came anywhere near understanding the assignment. It was a movie meaningfully trying to be in conversation with past films, even if it made some poor choices.

[@Mayeur000Donz]

@@firetarrasque4667 I think this is a fair assessment. It made a sincere attempt at taking risks and saying something meaningful, even if the results were polarizing. Ep 9, by comparison, is one of the most cynical, cowardly products I've ever seen, taking every low common demoninator to try and get mass appeal, including cheap dunks on Ep 8.

[@firetarrasque4667]

@@Mayeur000Donz That’s a great way to put it. Episode 8 *tried* to do something new and interesting with the series, but 9 barely even tried to be a coherent film. I really hope Rian gets another shot at Star Wars, someday. He’s improved significantly as a director since Episode 8, and I want to know what he’d do in a trilogy that’s not already shot in the foot by swapping directors.

[@Jahlil.W]

On one hand, something being new and original, doesn't always mean it's good. But on the other hand, nostalgia can become rather unhealthy in large doses, especially if it intentionally brings back the negative elements without improving them.

[@valutaatoaofunknownelement197]

The importance of balance.

[@WikiThis]

When it comes to the “dark era” of the Sonic series (and a lot of other series) is that each game were at least memorable. Don’t get me wrong, the quality varied radically, but I’ll take a memorable game like Black Knight over a snooze fest like Lost World any day of the week.

[@JadenFox9]

I honestly refer the Meta Era (2010s) as the Dark Era, while the gameplay is better, it's nothing but bloody Nostalgia with mostly horribly writing with the only saving graces being the handhelds except Lost World, Forces is honestly in the middle so I just say ignore it's existence

[@austinreed7343]

This era is back to varied quality, but now you’re not guaranteed a memorable game (but at least there is a chance of one)

[@lukejones7164]

3D Mario games always introduce new things (only the 2D games were stagnant until Wonder), and Mario is the most consistent video game franchise in terms of quality.

[@yourehereforthatarentyou]

i would easily call galaxy, galaxy 2, 3d land, and 3d world stagnant

[@lukejones7164]

@@yourehereforthatarentyou Galaxy was an extremely innovative 3D platformer that completely outshined all others before it, and Galaxy 2 was an improved sequel. 3D Land was mid but 3D World/Bowser's Fury was another unique title that introduced some new ideas and mechanics. And Odyssey is easily the best game in the Mario franchise. So where's the stagnantion bro lol?

[@cantthinkofausername5848]

​@@yourehereforthatarentyou Saying the galaxy games or 3d world are stagnant is just objectively wrong, unless you're unironicaly arguing that being a sequel is enough to make something stagnant

[@renren47618]

I'd say that Kirby is more consistent than Mario, even the worst Kirby games are pretty decent or "okayish".

[@tamashironin2932]

For power rangers it's kinda like this : -Classic : Zordon era -Expansion : Disney era -Retro : Neo-Saban era Hasbro : dead era ? I don't want to say that because i dind't find the show bad, but in level of toys and no news since...

[@austinreed7343]

Hasbro era: Destruction

[@tamashironin2932]

@austinreed7343 ...the Fuck ? If it's just because we have 2 same-gender couple in this, please consider that this franchise have since the beginning minorities has their mains casts and i prefer thinking about this in the subject of homosexuality in power rangers that when during Zeo, David Yost who played Billy left the show because of the homophobic comments adresses to him, who gaves Yost some suicidal thoughts.

[@austinreed7343]

@@tamashironin2932 The “woke” part is optional.

[@anderson9244MLG]

​@@austinreed7343 you're right

[@harlannguyen4048]

I would say the Hasbro era is in hibernation, with the company trying to figure out what to do with it. I mean, the former CEO who bought the franchise had big plans for it before his untimely passing.

[@chiron540]

We really need to stop glazing bad media just because "at least they tried something different"

[@aidanfedorochko3728]

I wonder what this means for Star Wars and Mortal Kombat as would another age effect how people feel about the sequels or the NRS era. Would people look more positively back on those in years. I don’t think so as I feel people will stem more on things and realize things were actually more damaging to the community and fans perception of the IP. Star Wars suffer as various fan factions and toxic view points fester with most discussion of new content being awful. MK kind has this but not really. My concision is that it’s very fine line Star Wars is walking by creating a disunified fan base with anti-Disney, Filoni Fans, sequels fans, and those who are uninterested now. Basically it’s going to damage the long term survival of the fan base and products.

[@SleepyBrady]

At the very least Mario hasn't fallen off in terms of mainline games. While they haven't innovated as quickly I see it as just how Nintendo is. They're slower to pick up on modern trends which tbh is either to its benefit or detriment. At the very least we know first party Nintendo games will usually have good game quality and polish.

[@EdmacZ]

Yet. Mario has been truly blessed to still have the visionaries and creators still involved in it all these years. No other franchise has had that advantage. But one day, Miyamoto and Tezuka will be gone. And a new creator will helm the franchise. There is already controversy over Mario's new voice actor after Martinet left after 30 years of voicing the character.

[@SkellyG444]

Feels like a weird example but I thought of Mario Party for this idea. 1-4 is the classic era, 5-7 is the capsule/orb era, 8 is this weird exception that’s on its own, then 9-superstars is the modern era

[@sunwukong5518]

1-8, 9-Top 100 and then SMP and MP Superstars

[@Ryan-Petre]

Honestly, the Sonic series is uniquely difficult to place into broad and distinct "eras". The devs are so spastic and can never settle on a formula lol. Like we talk about the "boost era", but ignore the fact that within that we also got Black Knight, Lost World and the Boom games haha.

[@MazeDaGr8]

Id agrue that GTA also has this 1&2 - Arcade games 3, VC, & SA - the well-known Trilogy 4, 5, & Soon coming 6 - The CG Trilogy

[@burner555]

>soon coming 5 ??

[@lukejones7164]

Street Fighter isn't an example of this pattern at all. SF4 was a genuinely good fighting game that revived the genre and introduced some new fan favorite characters. Even though it brought back the entire SF2 for the game, gameplay wise it had very little in common with SF2 beyond superficial similarities and it introduced new mechanics that the series didn't have before. While SF5 was bad at first, the game eventually redeemed itself since its 3rd season and Champion Edition, and like SF4 introduced new mechanics and a meta that didn't exist in previous games as well as even more new fan favorites than SF4 did. Even on a story level these 2 games actually advanced the character arcs of many of the cast despite taking place before 3rd Strike

[@Mr.Maguro]

The Godzilla and Gamera franchises both curiously fit this lens. Their begginings in the Showa era; The 1954 Gojira is a respected classic, and both film series introduced their most iconic antagonists here. But the "so bad it's good." nature of the series as a whole had made them laughing stocks, especially Gamera. The Heisei era is when things get experimental, for Gamera most notably, after a reimagined origin and the return of Gyaos as his nemesis, the next two films offered new original kaiju and took risks with the IP. This is less so the case with Godzilla's Heisei series. After Vs Biollante failed to meet expectations, Toho generally resorted to monsters and concepts from the Showa era. The "Millenium" era gave us a dissapointing american remake of Godzilla, followed by multiple failed startups that reutilized previous kaiju, save for three inspired by pre-existing monsters, with different directors taking the helm, resulting in an almost anthology-like series. Gamera meanwhile had The Brave, a reboot that went back to the Showa era as Gamera being a hero to all children. With the Reiwa era, not much has changed. The Monsterverse largely continues to rely on either Toho monsters or Kong, with the original kaiju, the MUTO as an exception, being derivative of Kong and Goji. The last two Toho films were reimaginings of the 1954 film in their own way. As for Gamera, the Rebirth anime goes back to the Showa era once again for the most part.

[@HVVVVVVVV]

Granted, Monsterverse did introduce more original kaiju (probably because Legendary didn’t want to pay Toho more money to use their kaiju), especially in The New Empire and (I think) Monarch.

[@favesoe2201]

Except these franchises are good tho

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

“Showa era” you know Hirohito was a war criminal right?

[@WikiThis]

@@goldenfiberwheat238 That's just what the time period of that era of Japanese history is called. Similar to how we call the 1810s-1840s the "Jacksonian Era" in American history, despite the fact that Andrew Jackson was also a terrible person.

[@Mr.Maguro]

@@goldenfiberwheat238 If it makes you too uncomfortable, some films in the franchises' "Showa Era" were released after that period of japanese history. So you could call it "the first series" if you prefer.

[@saloz9483]

Yea I doubt MK1 is going to change anything even just from a narrative perspective hell M1K has now opened the door fully to multiverse allowing them to be even more lazy and use that a crutch. The only good thing about it is that yea it acknowledges the 3D era does indeed exist in a more full go aspect though as you mentioned they have been taking baby steps towards that even before M1K. Though even acknowledging them the majority of them do jack shit in the story and/or they change them so much that it might as well be a new character. In the end I wouldn't put to much hope after what we have seen in M1K. Though I do agree with your pattern you found in geniral.

[@gangstergoji2k5isgod]

Another (near) perfect example to add here is Jurassic Park. It's only 6 movies in and it's about to get a 7th next year or so, but the pattern of "eras" is mostly the same. I say mostly because I feel like both the expansion and retro eras are combined in the 2nd trilogy. The original trilogy is nothing short of classic now, even JP3 which I believe, while is a little overhated. Despite this, people who like this franchise have been looking fondly back on it even before Jurassic World in 2015. However when the new Jurassic World trilogy happened, it was trying to expand on new ideas and gravitate towards a new direction, only to then two movies in become the throwback era and constantly pander towards nostalgia. Granted, even JW and Fallen Kingdom did this, but Dominion constantly wants to remind us of the original three movies while including the original cast from JP1 as a major selling point, along with a pretty bad plot that somehow feels secondary to the childhood bait. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, in fact, I too like some nostalgia dressing. But the 6th movie did it so much it was like one callback after another!

[@doctorbrown5957]

I've been saying this about Silent Hill for over a decade. Let it die. I grew up with that franchise, it was like the family dog. And it passed, and every now and again I hear something late at night, and there's Konami digging up my dead dog to try and revive it so I can have it back. It's dead, I've made peace with it, just let it stay dead.

[@firetarrasque4667]

Probably the funniest thing about Silent Hill is that Konami *had* the chance to revive it. Silent Hills was RIGHT THERE, it was an incredibly well received demo directed by two consistently talented and critically acclaimed artists, and Konami just… Fucking cancelled it. Truly, that company is a fucking inspiration to us all.

[@Ryan-Petre]

With Silent Hill it's more like: The Classic Era The Bland Era The Bland Era 2

[@Cruxis_Angel]

This. Silent hill was team silents baby and I don’t think we’re ever getting that back. It was a lighting in a bottle franchise with the right people meeting at the right time/place. Every silent hill after 4 has been awful and even PT while attracting new fans was divisive in the older SH community.

[@danielyoungblood3931]

I've been saying it for years, say what you will about the prequels, but you can tell that George Lucas is a hell of a world-building guy. Even when some of those ideas weren't that great, so many other ideas were really cool. Also while I do agree that call of duty has the same problem that these other franchises do, I feel like the games they were making that included the original characters from Black Ops and Modern Warfare were actually pretty good up until the last modern warfare game. They just fell off hard. Which is a shame.

[@TheGraveKnight]

Mario is pretty much on creative lockdown at this point, and as described eloquently by Matthew Metelli of SGB: "They'd be afraid to show he doesn't like to eat peas because it would alienate the pea-loving audience."

[@JadenFox9]

pretty much, and as shown in the New Series and up to Color Splash, that series can get very repetitive if their not careful

[@thomasraines1396]

I heard that from a KZbin channel called “Zero Punctuation”.

[@lukejones7164]

Its also the most consistent video game franchise in terms of quality. If it ain't broke don't fix it

[@cantthinkofausername5848]

Dafuq are you talking about? Games like oddysey and wonder weren't in a "creative lockdown" by any stretch of the imagination, the only games where it would make any sense to say that are the NSMB games (and if you really don't mind bad faith, you could include galaxy 2 and 3d world for being sequels to something) but saying that makes no sense whatsoever, it's just objectively wrong.

[@lukejones7164]

@@cantthinkofausername5848 Exactly. These people have no taste and just wanna hate the series.

[@SonicHaXD]

Great video. Just one question. What's your issue with Crash 4??? XD

[@The4thSnake]

its poo

[@fruitpun6h]

He’s not wrong tho n sane trilogy is way better

[@venomw6823]

@@The4thSnakeWhat’s your issue SF6?

[@Aisoreta]

IMO it's good but definitely went way too far with the collectables and how many there are to get and how much time it takes to get them, TLDR, Good game, terrible 100% experience

[@Greg501-]

@@venomw6823 I think the divide went SF2 era - SF3 era - SF4/5 era - SF6

[@MrDarksol]

Wow someone was brave enough to say that at least sonic is willing to do changes and sometimes he works with the changes and other times he doesn't but it's okay because at least he's not Mario...... I applaud you snake I applaud you with pride!

[@phantombloodmoon1471]

From my experience there’s Dragonball 1. OG and Z 2. GT and movies 3. Super 4. Modern Super MLP:FiM 1. Seasons 1-4 2. Seasons 5-9 3. G5 South Park 1. Classic Seasons 2. Later added in social commentary 3. Serialized Episodes 4. Movies and less serialized episodes Ben 10 1. Classic 2. UAF and Omniverse 3. Reboot Spyro: 1. Classic 2. Legend of Spyro 3. Reignited (Still good) Devil May Cry 1. 1-3 2. 4 3. DMC 4. 5

[@welchrebooted4739]

Well if anything good came out of the 3rd/2010s era's of star wars, mk, sonic, and terminator, it was the growing fondness/appreciation for the 2nd/2000s Era of those series which tbh I always appreciated those eras

[@wdcain1]

So true. After _Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny_ came out, I'm finding people who now say _Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_ wasn't so bad.

[@pious83]

A franchise that should have bowed out gracefully with The Last Crusade.

[@toyotatacoma1616]

Fandom is inherently revisionist. There is no substance on earth as malleable as public opinion.

[@pinkstinger]

It's all cyclical. New era is introduced, older fana don't like it and wanna go back, developers/directors do go back, and now the "new" older fans wanna go back to their own era, and so on and on. You can kinda see this with everything in life, not only entertainment media. That said, I really don't care for this nostalgia and franchise era we're living in, it's exhausting

[@razorback9999able]

To break this terrible circle is to let those stories end in a satisfying way and never to make more stories after the finale. It's the only way.

[@MightyKombat]

Right now I'm wondering whether the Tales of series is even hitting its own Second Wacky Experimental Era at all with games or if its just...stuck somewhere.

[@ZuoKalp]

I love the Resident Evil example. Capcom went through different eras and successfully managed to develop new interesting experiences on each one.

[@doomslayer9138]

Doom is the only 20+ year old franchise that has never been spoiled that I can remember

[@gurmeharsingh3758]

It did go on a very long hiatus for like 12 years between Doom 3 and 4 but yeah I agree

[@zoidster2099]

Evil Dead is another. Not a bad evil dead movie, even the remake is good. But also long hiatus.

[@WikiThis]

⁠@@zoidster2099 I think that’s the key. Sometimes you just gotta let franchises rest and come back when there’s something new to do with them.

[@Specsboy1999]

@@zoidster2099 I heard good things about the tv show and there was a musical, do you count them as part of your example or just the movies?

[@The4thSnake]

Doom is a weird one because all its era repeat the same two plots over and over: research base in space, Earth invaded by demons.

[@Perdix64]

I honestly did enjoy Sonic’s experimental era, it felt kinda fun with how it kept going into the experimental route with Heroes and Adventure.

[@LostOneOmega]

It happened to Beavis and Butthead... Though, that had more to do with WHERE they were showing (during their 2011 run) than when. Really enjoying their 3rd run. Of course, Mike Judge is definitely the driving factor. What ends up happening a lot is the original creators move on and the studios don't have a clue what to do when they're gone. (Star Wars, prime example)

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

Hehehe hey beavis. We need to reboot again so we can score

[@stephonjones4734]

There is nothing wrong with change as long as that change isn't DOG SHIT.

[@james_-zx2be]

I think you’ve just identified that franchises have a finite lifespan.

[@l-x-10]

Pokémon kind of does this First: Gameboy era (RBGY to RSE) Second: DS (DPPT to SM) Third: Switch (USUM TO SV)

[@shironasama0445]

USUM was not on switch

[@highadmiraljt5853]

USUM were 3DS games

[@Kingbeat1]

I'm sorry glad you noticed this too I always thought ever since these series done nostalgia pandering they became so bad

[@chrislister570]

Everyone wants to keep milking frachises, far past when most of them have reached a natural conclusion story-wise. Just create something new instead of lazy nostalgia pandering.

[@gril_cheese]

your comments regarding mario made me realise, multiple mario spinoffs/subfranchises can fit into this (main series cant) Paper Mario The classic era 64, ttyd The "toad" era Super Paper Mario-Origami King the new era ttyd remake (not out as of writing) and Mario Party classic era 1-8 car era 9-Super Mario Party the new era Superstars (the names are a bit strange but I dont know any specific names for them unlike the franchises outlined in the video)

[@Silver_Spectre]

I’d say the Spider-Man movies follow this to an extent, Tobey’s the classic era, Andrew’s the different middle child and Tom’s modern era

[@kayokango]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen people who get all excited for the guest characters, while having no clue who the MK characters are. Some of the worst cases I've seen are when the individuals felt that all of the dlc should be guests instead of those "lame MK characters nobody cares about". I've been saying it since the MK9 days, many of the post MIDWAY "fans" are not real fans at all. And Netherrealm has been letting the wrong people influence their decisions since MIDWAY died.

[@Endru85x]

I could understand putting in DLC character like Spawn, he fits the vibe of classic MK IMO, but who thought that putting 3 gun toting guys ( Roboop, Rambo, Terminator) makes sense? Even without them, Mk11 feels like GI Joe rip off at times. I miss the vibes of first two Mk games, and 3d era.

[@firetarrasque4667]

To be fair, MK definitely has one of the weaker overall fighting game casts out there. There are some *real* shitty characters in MK - Just take a look at Deadly Alliance’s original characters, of which are almost impressively shit. It’s not that MK never produces iconic characters, it’s just the consistency of their work is a real fucking struggle.

[@kayokango]

@@Endru85x Totally agree, especially the 3D era. Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon were such amazing games, and the characters they introduced were awesome. The more time goes by the more people are realizing that the detractors were wrong, and that the MK universe was a vastly more fleshed out and fascinating place than any equivalent the Netherrealm era has put forth.

[@constructivecriticism2568]

I am excited to see your critique of MK1. I know it’s going to take awhile, but I imagine this one’s going to be much more mixed than the previous entries.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

Good video. As embarrassing as _Terminator_ has it, I'd argue that the _Alien_ franchise manages to have it even rougher at this point overall of the big sci-fi film franchises (especially given _Star Wars_ is arguably more "space fantasy"). Despite all the failed "new trilogy" starts and _Terminator 3_ being...not good, both the TV series and _Terminator Salvation_ movie are at least good. Meanwhile, all these years later the _Alien_ franchise somehow still only has two good movies despite still getting movies. _Alien 3_ is decent but utterly meddled with and screws up the trilogy even if I'm normally fine with dark endings. _Alien Resurrection_ is...not good overall despite coming to my eventually enjoy it and despite it giving Ripley the happy ending she got screwed out of in the meddled with third movie. And even for the people who still utterly hate _Alien Resurrection_ with the passion of a million exploding suns, the four _Alien_ movies after it are still even worse and even dumber somehow, with _Alien: Covenant_ being literally one of the dumbest and worst movies I have ever seen. That's not an exaggeration since even now I'm *still* confused as to how _Alien: Covenant_ managed to be written so poorly when it was just a rehash of _Alien_ by the main director but done far more poorly in every way, even compared to something like _Dark Fate_ compared to its ripping off of _Terminator 2_ by James Cameron himself. It's genuinely baffling how bad _Alien: Covenant_ still manages to even having gone into expecting nothing and even with my low expectations of people.

[@motor4X4kombat]

Patrick (h) willems: but it sas meant to be poorly. It suvert your expetations, so its diferent so thefore its great... Just like the last jedi.

[@billyboleson2830]

Ever notice how 00s content is always ignored in favor of 80s-90s stuff? PAC MAN, Mega Man, Looney Tunes, and Star Fox also come to mind but sonic is probably the most infamous example for video games

[@Mr.Maguro]

I guess they're in that period where they're not old enough to be nostalgic. That has started to change recently as 2000s kids are becoming functioning members of society, like the 80's and 90's generation were in the 2010's. It could also be that those two decades were the originators of pop culture as we know it now, most of everything since has been a reboot, remake or reimagining.

[@Xick]

Gen X got old enough to make stuff, so everything was Pac Man and Street Fighter 2 for a while. Now Millennials are old enough to make stuff, so you see things like indie horror bringing back PSX- and N64-style grainy polygons. I do hope we didn't skip nostalgia for the x-treem 90s stuff. There's a lot of material worth recycling in there.

[@DarthWall275]

​​@@Mr.MaguroI think it's a huge stretch to say Gen Z are "functioning members of society", I work with a few, and lemme tell ya they're a fucking liability. I suppose you're better than most?

[@Mr.Maguro]

@@DarthWall275 I was talking more in a general sense as a generation that "inherits the earth" for better or worse.

[@DarthWall275]

@@Mr.Maguro Gen Z ain't inheriting shit, I guess it's the job of Millennials (again) to ensure Alpha turn out better XD.

[@chaoschannel3428]

Another good example of this is Power Rangers. You have the Saban era (Mighty Morphin to Wild Force), the Disney era (Ninja Storm to RPM), the Neo Saban era (Samurai to Ninja Steel), and the fourth current era being the Hasbro era (Beast Morphers to current).

[@ill_hex8103]

Hey, I can make an argument as to why most of those major examples are good ones: -You could argue that there should also be a 4th era. The true classic era, with the “classic era” just being the “golden age/nostalgia era”. Cause a lot of franchise beginners aren't talked about as much as their sequels. Franchises like Beyblade (though I disagree that the Metal Series was peak), Dragon Ball, and Final Fantasy fit that bill along with Sonic and MK. S2 and S3&K are definitely high bars, but most sonic fans would argue that the franchise peaked in the Adventure era, or even with Generations. Klassic MK games are considered too old and janky to be argued that the franchise really peaked (even if the 3D era is more-or-less a matter of taste with fans than arguing about peakness). -I'd also argue that Star Wars' prequel trilogy isn't really what you'd properly define as the middle era due to the premise being a prequel and that the script was from the original trilogy. But even then, the sequel trilogy is unfairly hated. Many people dismiss it as a poor man's og trilogy, when you can argue that other movies like Eragon are ripoffs for same reasons as the sequel trilogy. Cutting out character motives, dynamics, and conclusions in order to focus on narratives despite themselves being intentionally repetitive and derivative. Outside of Rise Of Skywalker, the trilogy came out in a very turbulent time for fandoms when the internet started having an influx of the anti-woke crowd forcing outdated ideals and agendas along with old-heads that're stubborn about accepting new things and defend their childhood like it's their property. Nobody realized how insane these people were and just agreed with their thoughts on the sequel trilogy. It's a victim of being the right thing at the wrong time (had it been released during the '00s or early '10s, you'd hear a lot more praise cause of nostalgia). -Terminator though…

[@nugg3tssfm111]

Another franchise that seems to be doing this is FNAF the original 6 games are classics among the fans that grew up with the series in the mid 2010s I’d say right now fnaf is in its expansion phase where they leaned into the child audience and made the game specifically for children rather than having a game both old and young fans can like and also adding controversial characters like the mimic that feel like retcons to fans like me There’s also a bit of a hint of the nostalgia era with the movie going back to the original game but not having the same tone or feel the original fnaf games did and rather feeling like the movie “security-breachified” fnaf 1 I used to love fnaf but now I’ve moved on to other games like DOOM which I feel has a pretty decent consistency to it with only doom 3 feeling off compared to classic and modern doom

[@windandfireproductions5358]

Kinda ironic since fnaf isn't that old

[@DinobotKiryu]

FINALLY a video that goes over what I've thought for a LONG TIME! Transformers, Star Trek & Jurassic Park also go into this category, annoyingly. I don't mind anniversaries doing tributes but when it becomes all nostalgic, that's bullshit and ruins the creativity. Don't copy the originals. Be your own thing. And of course be good, too. Most like the Jurassic World movies more than JP2 and 3. I don't give a damn! I take them and their distinction from the classic 1st movie, as each film (not so much I mean in quality) feels different enough, in my opinion.

[@iamaidabishes]

The thing is That Mk 1 is trying to be new But it can't Just like the past 3 games They try 'new things' but it only has to ways to go It's either a disaster , or it's just new in the beginning and then turns into the old thing The best example for this , are Mk1 Scorpion and Sub Zero The thing was , that the whole 'reason' they came up with the 'Kuai Liang Scorpion' was the fact that they wanted to tell a new story about Scorpion and Sub Zero ... having them as 'brothers' right ? But then ? It ended up just them beefing , Scorpion having his own Shirai Ryu and them just being enemies . And here we are , with a new version that's lacking af ( compared to the og) and even not rlly anything 'new' in the end .

[@Endru85x]

I liked the campaign for most chapters, but in the end , story reminded me of Battle of the Realms - i mean " Hey let,s cram as much shit as possible", with timelines, alternate versions, callbacks to Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armaggeddon.

[@lukescrew1981]

I think the Sonic games in the 2000's were the best

[@TheNemesis432]

S3K and Adventures were Sonic's peak.

[@lukescrew1981]

@@TheNemesis432 For me it was Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog, 06 and Unleashed. And also Sonic Rush games

[@davismorgan99]

The best sonic game is always the one you played when you were 10

[@lukescrew1981]

@@davismorgan99 No

[@TheNemesis432]

@@lukescrew1981 It's a good selection. Played a little 06 (PC fan port) and only PS2 Unleashed, so can't judge them, but neither of modern Sonic games can compete with any other listed game here (Generations and Mania (75% of it) are bland and overrated and Frontiers is close, but isn't enough). S3K, SA and SA2 are objectively superior games though (subjectively SC as well).

[@briansinger5258]

Fighting games need to keep characters. That part is simple.

[@StandingUpForBetter]

As an old school fan of many of these franchises I have no problems with franchise trying something new. I also don't mind HD updates or re-releases of classics. What I do mind and hate is all the WOKE garbage that we are told are for a "modern audience" who frankly don't even care about these franchises because they are too busy looking for their next protest and they have no money or job because they are always too busy looking for their next protest. If these companies stop pushing "agenda" and hire fans and not activists, we might continue to get quality content. As a whole, I think Nintendo has done a great job with their IPs. I just hope they don't decide to go woke. As everyone knows and the higher ups who fail upwards at the expense of their employees refuse to admit out loud, "go woke, get broke".

[@madbrosheo1514]

This kinda happened with Dark Souls. The first game was the classic that everyone loves, the second was the new one that tried many different things but was controversial in its execution, and the third one harkened back to the first one, but missed a lot of what made it great in the first place.

[@DarkOverlord96]

I honestly find a lot this just kind of forced revisionism, especially in Star Wars' case. Like, you really want to convince me that the Prequels, some of the most ridiculed and memed on movies of the 2000s because of how much they changed, retconned and messed with the lore and called George Lucas a "hack who violated our childhoods" according to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, always got flak because of how fake the special effects look and how wooden and lifeless the performances are, the entire existence of Jar Jar Binks... are suddenly good now because they "tried to do something different" after the Sequels tried to go back to feeling more like the Original Trilogy because that's what the fans always wanted for years? And because Kelly Marie Tran is apparently worse than the Devil? Yeah, I don't buy it, and I'm someone who defended the Prequels. It just feels forced, especially with how apparently people are now looking forward to new Star Wars stuff from Disney because hopefully it won't be like the Sequels even though they clearly are still gonna use them as a basis.

[@warrenbradford2597]

I need to avoid this pattern when creating franchises of my own. I do not want to be overly reliant on nostalgia...nor trying too hard to be different for that matter.

[@marko-gj1uj]

This reminded me of comic eras, but because this is about franchises, I see. I would like to see Star Wars era in which we see lore outside Jedis and Siths.

[@davidcranfill3097]

The only exception that I can think of is Star Trek. It’s 90s attempts at changing the core of the franchise were largely successful and are looked back on fondly now.

[@kobold7466]

man its almost like this pattern is so prevalent that it seems like a deliberate coordinated effort

[@GANONdork123]

Nah it's just the natural course of things. New thing starts out, everyone loves it. Time goes on and after treading the same ground for so long, things start to get stale, people start losing interest, you've become stagnant. So what do you do? You reinvent thing in hopes the changes will keep people's interest. If it works, great! But more often than not, it alienates long time fans and doesn't bring in enough new fans to make up for it. So what do you do? Well trying new things failed so let's just go back to what did work, and now you're back in stagnation.

[@kobold7466]

@@GANONdork123 except no one complained to have shit changed

[@GANONdork123]

@@kobold7466 They do, though. If not verbally, then monetarily. Audiences get bored, they stop paying attention, and they stop buying. Even if they don't outright say their tired of the same old thing, sales metrics don't lie. Sure, the diehard fans might not get sick of rehashes, but the general public does, and the general public accounts for more sales in big franchises than hardcore fans do. You can't sustain a multi-million dollar movie franchise like Star Wars off of diehard fans alone, you need general audiences, and general audiences are fickle and get bored quickly, eager to move on to the next thing. That's not to mention the creatives behind said franchises getting bored of doing the same old thing over and over.

[@kobold7466]

@@GANONdork123 k

[@macincko4616]

​@@kobold7466He's spitting facts stop taking it so personally lmfao

[@PhillipOnTakos]

Yeah as a Transformers fan I've felt this for around ten years. With everything (outside of the Michael Bay movies) trying to emulate G1. I'm sick of it. I don't get excited seeing the "classic" designs when that's just the design of the character now. Part of the fun of being a Transformers fan to me, was seeing the same character reinterpreted. I think just by looking at Optimus Prime and Megatron's designs you can see this. With Optimus they kept the same basic design but changed it slightly so a casual can identify him but a hardcore fan can easily tell you which show it's from. While Megatron is so different in his design a casual may struggle to tell it's him but again a hardcore fan will have an even easier time telling which iteration he's from. Somewhere in the 2010's they choose to stop iterating on the old design and just use the old design as the template. Which makes me bored as a hardcore fan. For both just the simple act of telling each iteration apart and for buying merchandise since I already have that toy/figure. No shame on the writing but I'm so bored when I see G1 style Transformers now (And really any franchise that does this) since the charm has worn off. Do something different, cause I'm not interested anymore by reusing the same design for nostalgia points.

[@redcoffeemug7537]

Sonic eras aren't that distinct as people like to make them seem tho. Like retro 2D sonic pretty much continued with the Advance, Rush and DS/3DS games. 2D sonic never really went away in the adventure/boost eras, unlike how 2D mortal kombat did in the ps2 era.

[@ebiceric1050]

I feel like crash has always relied on the past. TWoC and CNK both are major rehashes of Warped and CTR. And the two modern remakes need no explanation. But I always felt like it was done well even if TWoC made issues from Warped worse.

[@ebiceric1050]

Hell even twinsanity had a cutscene of all the old villains.

[@fruitpun6h]

It sucks that we can’t call it crash 4 anymore because it took me a good minute to realize you were talking abt the wrath of cortex

[@cosmosofficial6585]

😂Even transformers kinda has this.

[@FranciscoFJM]

Need for Speed has been stagnant since 2014 with the Ghost games era, with each new game being exactly the fucking same as NFS 2015 but with more bells and whistles. All these games have to have callouts to the 2000s Blackbox games, to the point that the car the final boss of Most Wanted 2005 had (BMW M3 GTR) had to be included in every single one of the Ghost games, sometimes even as the fucking final boss, again.

[@pacman10124]

Street Fighter 6 looks relatively fresh but def. neither it nor 4 & 5 can really compare to the more divisive, less safe rosters of Alpha or the New Gen era

[@Mal-go5dl]

Is the alpha roster really divisive? Most of it is returning characters

[@Cri_Jackal]

I've literally notice the exact same thing, but where there's a positive outcome. My era theory went, original era, sequel era, and reimagining/revamp era. Let's use Metroid as an example, you have the original trilogy of the first 3 metroid games, then the Prime Trilogy and GBA games both tried to directly build upon and expand on what those original games were trying to do as sequels to them, and finally we have Samus Returns and Dread as the modern revamps that radically evolved upon all preexisting material. That's the key difference, does the third era steep itself in nostalgia and revert back to what it thinks worked about the originals, or do the current games actually have both the balls and talent to follow up on them with something new? Another good and more concise example is Pikmin, 1 and 2 are the originals, 3 is the sequel, and 4 is the revamp. Zelda has ostensibly gone through the same progression too.

[@ride-playerbb2818]

Ultraman went through this too, the showa era as the classic era, Ultraman Tiga starting the expansion by starting over in a new universe, with the next few series taking place in their own (with the exception of Dyna which directly follows Tiga) and then Mebius is simultaneously the end of the expansion era and the begining of the retro era, which would eventually lead to the New Generation Era Super Sentai I feel is a curious case which this _should've_ happened, but the line isn't certain

[@littlemisseevee2309]

For me the middle eras for a series are often my faves, I love when these serieses try new things, especially when its pulled off well. Pokemon had one and it was a fun era for me, zelda had one, megaman had one which unfortunately killed it but it was still fun. Good times

[@cyberdemonic260]

While I'm not ragging on these games there is a franchise that I played which I think follows the three eras pattern, the Luigi's Mansion series. The series started with a really good first game, the gameplay, exploration, ghosts, music, atmosphere, everything about it is damn near flawless. The second game had that sort of innovative era feel to it since it took everything the first game did and dialed it up to 11, instead of 1 mansion there was 5, instead of shining the light at the ghosts you had to flashbulb them, there were more interesting boss battles, and while the progression was much more linear there was still a lot of exploration to be had and it allowed for replaying the game, Hell even the atmosphere was good, all the mansions were distinct enough from each other that they never really felt the same, and while the game had a much sillier tone, it did get spooky in some areas. The music was also really good. That being it was more experimental than the original and in my opinion it stands strongly on its own. Then we have the third game, now I do like the third game, I really do, it was everything I loved about the previous two games in one awesome package, but at the same time I think that it really held the game back in some regards. It rehashes a lot of what the previous two games had and while it did do it arguably better than the first two games, I just can't shake the feeling that it couldn't step out of their shadows. This game was less innovative in most regards with the flash bulb and dark light mechanic returning from the second one, the portrait ghosts returning in equal form as well as a much smaller roster of normal ghosts( who also felt rehashed), and you don't really spend too much time in many of the floors to really take in the atmosphere like the previous games to name some of my criticisms. While like I said I do like this game, I think that it does enhance a lot of the charm and pretty much everything good about the previous entries, I do feel that it took too much from what came before to stand on it's own, I mean between the first two games they don't feel like you're playing the same game twice and while I'm not saying that Luigi's Mansion 3 is the exact same as the others it's not all that different at the same time. Still that being said the series has remained good all these years and if you're interested go and try to find a way to play them, Luigi's Mansion 3 is on the switch, Luigi's Mansion 1 has a remake on the 3ds, and while it did get a remake for the switch I recommend playing Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon on the 3ds for the real experience

[@sahilhossain8204]

Lore of The 3 Eras Pattern That Ruins Franchises momentum 100

[@danielsawaked685]

Mk1 should’ve stuck to mk11s aftermath ending where we would’ve gone back in time to the great kung lao era. we could’ve still had the 3d era rep mk1 has while not having to deal with the special forces/black dragon and still have some klassic characters come back like any of the edenians, most of the outworlders and everyone from chaos/order realm (just say everyone from all the other realms besides earth realm just naturally live thousands of years or something to explain how they’re already here) i genuinely believe that would’ve been better than the multiverse bullcrap we got in mk1

[@wickdaline8668]

They must have sacrificed most of the Special Forces and Black Dragon cast for the 3D era cast for MK1. Sad face.

[@danielsawaked685]

Hopefully it stays that way, we just had a decade of special forces and black dragon

[@wickdaline8668]

@@danielsawaked685 It ain't MK without the SF and the BD to me.

[@nabilahmed579]

The only members that even works, story wise, is Johnny cage in which is only because he’s the only one that actually has things outside of the sf and bd that make him interesting. Everyone else is bland and boring and mk1 actually made a decent decision to remove them for the 3d era (who have more interesting stories to relate to). I could see jax and Sonya having a bit more light now considering their new aesthetics fits around mk a lot more now but JC will always be there and be more favoured upon than the likes of Sonya, jax and Kano to the point it’s actually worth calling someone a ‘fan-fave’

[@wickdaline8668]

@nabilahmed579 I've had some interesting ideas for Sonya that doesn't have to make her bland or boring. For instance, Sonya in the new timeline could have a similar background to Li Mei. Where Sonya is forced to leave a proud career behind in disgrace. Sonya could be a former marine who took her late father Herman Blade's footsteps until she screws up on one mission during a tour where she accidentally gets her men killed under her command. Hence, a court martial and dishonorable discharge. Sonya then spends the rest of her life in Black Dragon fight clubs that pay the rent for her apartment. Storywise, Sonya could have a chapter between Kung Lao's and Johnny's where her story starts in a BD fighting cage fighting opponents like Kira and Kobra, and Kano is watching the show running the club. Liu Kang also watches Sonya fight while blending in with the crowd of BD gangsters. After the fight, Sonya collects her payment even though it's not enough. Then heads home, patches herself up, takes depression pills, drinks alcohol, and watches television. The landlord knocks on her door and asks for her rent money, but Sonya doesn't have all of it. Sonya goes to bed and has nightmares about her men getting killed on the mission. Then she wakes up with her alarm clock buzzing. Sonya walks out of her apart and is then followed by Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, and Tomas from and alleyway into a subway. At the subway, Sonya gets a feeling she's being watched, followed, and about to be mugged. Then, the three Lin Kuei members show themselves, and Sonya fights the three of them. Sonya wins the fight, and that's when Liu Kang arrives on the scene commending her for passing the test. Praising her for both her fighting prowess and her instincts that told her she was being tailed. And that's how Liu Kang recruits her into the Wu Shi to be trained for the tournament. At the tournament, being introduced to Outworld would be the first day of the rest of Sonya's life. She would then witness Raiden fighting Li Mei in the tournament. That's when Sonya would get a feeling that there's something about Li Mei that she has in common with. Sonya would later in the story learn from Liu Kang about how Li Mei failed to save Jerrod from the assassins who killed him and was forced to leave the Umgadi as punishment. Later in the story, Sonya could then begin a friendship with Li Mei, both understanding and resonating what it's like to unfairly lose their proud careers to tragic events and are bonded by their paths to redemption and restoring their honor for each realms their own. Does any of this sound the least bit more interesting than what NRS has done with Sonya between MK9 and 11?

[@nabilahmed579]

@@wickdaline8668 easily beats NRS’s writing for her, that’s for sure. I would also say her being forced to illegal activities can actually have her justified in terms of being an asshole in certain cases during a hypothetical scenario with her considering the fact of how much stuff she has been put through out of her control. Not to mention, with her position being in a place where she has essentially nothing to lose for.

[@phorchybug3286]

Either you freak out your grandma or you bum out your little cousin.

[@elviejomonca4719]

Transformers is another MASSIVE example

[@АрсенийВасильев-и8ъ]

Care to elaborate

[@elviejomonca4719]

@@АрсенийВасильев-и8ъ Classic Era: G1, the original toys cartoon and comics (I also put G2 here since for me it's just G1 with a new hat) Expansionist era: Beast wars, Unicron Trilogy and The Michael Bay films; the latter in particular caused a massive boom in popularity for the franchise, but were hated by long time fans and destroyed by movie critics. Then you have animated and the Aligned Continuity, which were kind of an in-between period, in which there were new things but the shift towards bringing back G1 stuff was showing. Retro Era: And then with the Prime Wars toyline trilogy (and terrible Machinima show), the nostalgia era went full swing with the WFC toyline, The reboot movies and Cyberverse, in which it was almost all G1 based with just a little bit of beast wars in the mix. Current era: But now thanks to the Legacy toyline, we are finally getting more recognition towards the more forgotten parts of the franchise, with the current show Earthspark trying again to introduce new elements and even its own characters. Let's see if TF One will continue this trend

[@stardust-reverie]

oh man, i’ve been noticing this exact thing happening with sonic for the past over-a-decade now, and i NEVER put it together that it’s been happening to dozens of other media franchises too. i don’t think i’m ever gonna unsee this pattern now lmao, thanks for the eye-opener

[@zemox2534]

I feel most horror franchises fall into all these eras. Every horror franchise just gets worse with each new sequal and remake.

[@gnarwhal7562]

As far as entertainment IPs go, I'm regularly astounded by the consistency in quality of the Super Mario franchise. With a few exceptions, (mostly limited to spin-offs), it has continued to push boundaries while still retaining its core elements. Not even iconic legacy series like Dr. Who, Star Trek, Dragonball, or Batman can boast that level of quality in the modern age

[@TheDigitalApple]

Shame how the only franchises that aren’t trash nowadays are like this either by how niche they are or have been dead for decades.

[@neonspectacle1298]

Everything you said at the beginning perfectly, describes the path Fortnite is going down.

[@garretwoeller7669]

MK1 outside of how its unfinished the game does kinda fucks hard and its potential is insane too bad the devs take the lamest root

[@blacksabbath9631]

I mean, game will come to “full” one day, but the fact it took SF5 way sucks balls

[@garretwoeller7669]

@@blacksabbath9631 yeah true but the combos are actually cool compared to MK11

[@loganlombard5332]

Fast & Furious kind of has this too: 1. Pre-Rock/Grounded Era (1-4) 2. Middle/Balanced Era (5-7) 3. Post-Paul Walker/Completely Stupid Era (8-Present) But instead of the third era back-peddling to the first, like what other franchises do, it instead doubles down on the second.

[@Deathmare235]

Isn’t fast and furious completey different, it’s all about being more extreme than the last

[@greninjatron5227]

Now that i think about it dungeons and dragons kind of has this as well From my limited understanding of the game You have the first two editions of the game( everything from its creation to the turn of the centery) which basicly created ttrpgs Then came 3rd edition which introduced a lot of new stuff like the d20 system,prestige classes and basicly the entire modern ruleset Then came 4th edition which took the series in a very different direction that as far as ive seen very few liked so with 5th edition they played it incredibly safe with only 13 classes all from before 2005 going back to the 3rd edition rules but incredibly simplified with basicly the only thing it took from 4th edition being cantrips for magic users. Despite this 5th edition is so popular and well liked that in ten years only expansions and updates have come out for the game and even though 5th edition is trying its hardest to be the default dnd ive seen people complain about not enough options and start to miss stuff from 4th edition and especially 3rd edition

[@BeauBrewer5.56]

NRS needs to stop cramming so many plot lines in each game for so many characters. Give characters the chance to be flushed out to understand their motivations and see the changes in their character over time so we actually give a shit when something happens. Make the tournament last the whole game. See how things progress between official fights with anger or desperation kicking in for some with maybe even some devious cheating from those we know are prone to it. Much like Star Wars now I don’t watch Mortal Kombat and recognize the franchise I have always loved since a small kid but instead watch something that seems familiar but just really isn’t what I remember it being.

[@ethanmueller8218]

That force is female picture was taken out of context, it was for Nike, not Star Wars.

[@russianoverkill3715]

You totally have a rose tinted glasses on prequel trilogy, don't you, given you didn't even criticize it much, and skipped right to bashing sequel trilogy.

[@caiosilva2167]

On the contrary, he criticized the PT in his MK 2011 critique

[@BlytzDragon]

So many franchises have a similar pattern or even from companies like game developers, mainly in the AAA space these days. It's either too much change and risk or too much stagnation and lack of innovation. Other franchises I can think of following the trope for better or worse: Halo, Tony Hawk, Spyro, Tekken?, Dead or Alive?, Grid, Gears of War?, Pokemon, Oddworld?, Devil May Cry, Forza, Gran Turismo, Borderlands?, Diablo?, Far Cry. OK maybe I'm not entirely sure about rhe rehashing of plot elements or nostalgia bait but you get whar I mean.

[@Omega63]

A weird multi-series example with Bionicle and Hero Factory: You have the original Bionicle which is amazing and has some of the best lore out there. After it ended in 2010, with an ending that was kind of rushed due to the later sets not selling as well and having to scrap the planned trilogy that would end the series, came Hero Factory, which took some stuff from Bionicle but had a simpler lore, storyline and characters. While some Bionicle fans accepted Hero Factory as a successor to Bionicle, there were many who hated it and saw it as either an inferior version with its simpler elements or accused it of replacing Bionicle and being the reason it ended. During HF's run, every video or post about it always had people in the comments going "We want Bionicle back". Hero Factory ended in 2014 with an unsolved cliffhanger and several loose ends and was followed with Bionicle G2 in 2015. I remember that when G2 was announced, the entire Bionicle fanbase was so happy and celebrating about it returning. Then G2 came and it was a failure with the sets not selling at all (I remember stores in late 2016 still had some sets from the first 2015 wave), the lore and world building being way too simplified and dumbed down, it barely having any promotion and relaying too much on nostalgic G1 fans for it to do well, which it didn't. While I don't dislike G2, it was such a failure that it only lasted for two waves (2015-2016) and had the planned 2017 wave scrapped. There was also the Netflix show based on the 2016 wave that had the episodes setting up stuff for 2017, but had to rush the ending due to the sudden cancellation of the wave. For all it's faults, Hero Factory had a simple but still somewhat interesting lore, just not as complex or deep as Bionicle's, had good marketing and several supplementary media that expanded stuff like the comics, story books, web games and the TV show, which Bionicle G2 lacked (G2 only had two graphic novels, a short web-series for 2015 and a Netflix show for 2016). Nowadays, you can find people being kinder with HF, either Bionicle fans who thought they were too hars on it during its run or people that were kids during the HF's run that are now older and can express their liking of the series online.

[@interdimensionalcommunicat9750]

Some people in the comments here bringing up Dragon Ball Z, GT and Super here, but I don't think that really applies. Let's not forget that GT had a lot of nostalgia baiting too. Hell, the whole premise of Goku being a kid again and having to go on a quest to find Dragon Balls is an obvious attempt to recapture the first few arcs of OG Dragon Ball, and lets not forget making Android 17 the villain again and having all the old bad guys escape hell so they can make cameos.

[@ShaneFullerYT]

Maaaan, u r not wrong about Terminator. Like u would think it'll be so ez to make good sequels...Also, major W for bringing up Halloween & Alien. I was gonna be like what about Predator, but then Prey kinda broke the cycle...😂

[@czeslawireneusz8069]

Franchise that this applies to: Heroes of Might and Magic, Era1: HoMM 1-3, Era 2: HoMM 4, Era 3:HoMM 5-7 Edit: In terms of gameplay, I think everyone agrees that HoMM 1-4 has decent to good stories, and 5 to 7 bad to mediocre at best. Also a franchise that very much plays with this trend is Quake. Quake 1 was a fully 3d adaption of doom with a lovecraftian and horror atmosphere, Quake 2 had a WW2 sci fi setting (and pretty much set the standard for FPS games aesthetics in some ways at least until the mid 2010's ) Quake 3 was multiplayer only, and Quake 4 was a retreading of Quake 2 but with a more horror angle.

[@calisthenicsmachine9725]

Terminator is the biggest one because it was never supposed to be a franchise in the first place. Technically T1 really should have been the only film with no sequels at all but then T2 came along and really made a mess. T3 cleaned it up really well and it should have ended there closing the loop that T2 broke and setting things back to how it was told in the original.

[@TheMushroomMeister]

dark fate I think was the one that gave us an erb so that was something at least

[@skyslasher2297]

MK and Sonic honestly heaven he best bets it getting out of their ruts due to the positive reception of Frontiers and M1K and it’s usually that reception which dictates the direction. Sonic is in the best place right now since sega hasn’t left me with anything to potentially fear. MK it’s dependent on how this multiverse nonsense is handled like despite the potential and it being a means to not permanently kill characters for gameplay purposes I want the next game to leave that shit behind say for invasions which was at least something to do and stick to low stakes conflicts and character driven stories they’re good at it. Terminator and Star Wars had their chances taken away I’m sorry.

[@austinreed7343]

Star Wars is possibly in a fourth, even worse era, a "Destruction Era".

[@dannybright8708]

Pokémon kinda felt like this after Black and White, there was nostalgia pandering UP THE ASS in Pokémon X/Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield. Not helping was the fact that all those games were clearly rushed… Scarlet and Violet began embracing the “middle era” (Gens 3-5) a lot more, so that’s good to see. Now if only the games were given time to actually be finished…

[@vb6523]

I feel like Fire Emblem is somewhere in the third era as well, with Not only Heroes but pretty much Most 'recent' Major releases Safe for Three Houses having dedicated nostalgia sections or being Remakes. Still great Games, but it's a bit stagnating, with Engage being at a weird split between nostalgia pandering and experimentation.