I'll be back on later to talk with all of you about the changes we've made and why we made them. Also, we'll be posting more Arrival material in the upcoming days, so keep checking back.

I'm starting an Arrival V2 thread over in the new forums, so be sure to check it out and drop your opinions off for everyone to see.

One last thing: before you vote today, make sure you read through the entire pitch. Many things from the synopsis are explained in further detail in the other sections. Also, I'd recommend holding off on your vote for a day or so, as we'll be releasing further "proposed" material for your discussion.

PWW 

Now, before everyone gets up-in-arms, I need to say, I personally like these editions better than my last ones...

 That being said, I feel these pictures require reasoning of sorts...

Uncle Bill: Easily a Phong-like sprite; old, wise, and potentially powerful. However, this one appears much more militant in character, while covered up with charisma and slogans. His beard, as well as his tentacle-like arms, represent the stranglehold he has over Mainframe, and his spreading influence over the city.

Carnivore: I'm not sure whether Carnivore lives inside Uncle Bill like a parasite, or if he's a split personality, or if this is his true form (whether it be by transformation, or by living inside the tin-can appearance of Uncle Bill), but regardless, he is a brutal, menacing beast. Much like Uncle Bill, Carnivore's ravenous tentacles signify Serenity's hold over Mainframe, but in this form, it shows its utter brutallity. He also takes on an almost undead appearance as well, considering that's what Serenity is doing; destroying sectors of Mainframe, then raising them from the dead, under its control.

As per usual, critique is welcome. I may very well upload these to the Reboot Loader (or whatever it's called) for 2.0, so I'd like to know what people think. 

Hi.  I'm Speaker.  I do things.

 *waves*
 

A week into this crazy ride, and the feedback has been amazing - helpful - humbling! Your love for ReBoot and its characters is clearly evident!

A lot of you have been asking for more information… so allow us to elaborate on some key points.


1. 17 Years???

Yep. 17 Mainframe years.

17 User yearswould be ridiculously long – not to mention illogical, as who would continue to use a 17 year-old computer?


2. What in the Net happened in the Hunt?!?

Good question. Obviously, Megabyte overpowered our heroes and took over, leaving us in this predicament.

Like any good dictator, Megabyte has re-written history – can’t have stories about heroes floating around giving the resistance hope. So Bit knows only what Megabyte has told her.

As Bit searches for Bob she meets faces from the past and members of the resistance, slowly piecing together the truth. A series of flashbacks start from where the cliffhanger left off and, coinciding with the climax of Bit and Bob’s story, finish with a bang where Megabyte crowned himself ruler.

In true ReBoot parody fashion, expect a little Citizen Kane action.


3. Where are my favorite characters?

In a pitch with a word count this tight, we couldn’t mention everyone. Rest assured, many of your favorites are alive and well – if changed by Megabyte’s rule – and through Bit’s search for Bob, we’ll meet them again.


4. Uh, TWO dads? Ewww slash wtf!

Yep. We hear ya. It is weird and confusing. Check out our earlier blog “Who’s Your Daddy(s)?” for where we were coming from on this one.


5. Who is this Bit chick?

We’ve heard a lot of Mary Sue.

Our original idea was to address the cliffhanger in reverse fashion – explaining what happened through a series of flashbacks over the course of the first film (because, you know, the tension of waiting years and years for the fans to find out just wasn't enough).

In order to do that effectively, we needed to frame the flashbacks in the story of someone who didn’t already know what happened. Since the whole ReBoot crew was there that fateful day, we couldn’t use any of them. Discarding amnesia as lame, we realized we needed a new character.

When we meet her, Mary Sue – er, I mean, Bit – is a kickass chick, sure. But she’s also Megabyte’s daughter (her dual parentage is not revealed until 3/4 of the way through the film). Hence she’s spoiled and self-centered with a questionable set of ethics. She sees her inability to do violence as a major weakness and is happy to buy into Megabyte’s propaganda.

But as she journeys to find Bob and discovers details of The Hunt, she begins to change – hence her character arc.

So, we would argue that Bit is not the “perfect” fanfic character – but rather, a flawed girl on her way to becoming worthy of her Guardian lineage.

We also really liked the strong “family” theme in the original series. Again though, we wanted to start with something that was broken and work backwards to put it right – hence, we start with a messed up family situation and gradually sort it out.


6. What have you done to Bob?!

A lot of you have had some strong reactions to Bob. Let us explain a little.

Over the course of battling Megaframe during The Hunt, Bob was sufficiently weakened that he knew he was no longer able to defeat his nemesis. And if he can’t defeat Megabyte, he’s vulnerable to being used by the virus. Megabyte would like nothing more than to access Bob’s abilities to help him spread his virus to the net – and beyond.

Yes, Bob’s programming is to mend and defend, and yes, Bob always puts the greater good before himself. Hence, if he was too weak to defeat Megabyte, but still had abilities Megabyte could exploit for evil, the safety of the greater good would depend on Bob removing himself – potentially Megabyte’s greatest weapon – from Mainframe and Megabyte's grasp.

No matter how much it might kill him inside to do it.

Our vision of Bob is simply that – what would happen to a hero who was forced, for the safety of the greater good, to disappear at the peril of those he loves?

Bob was always dorkily by-the-book – and this time it cost him the love of his life. But can that love overcome his programming to allow him to return to Megaframe and rescue his family?

Sure, the film starts with a character very different from the Bob you know and love, but throughout the trilogy, expect your hero to return – with a vengeance.

We hope that clears some stuff up, or at least offers some new food for thought. In the meantime, keep the feedback coming!

Here's a design I made for Dot:

~Prologue~

...dark...

            ...fear...

                       ...falling...

                                        ...fate...

                                                     ...acceptance...

                                      ...choice...

                        ...elevation...

            ...valor...

...light...

"Acceptance" Everyone strives for it, whether they admit it or not.  Work, play, sleep, love, hate, strive, lie, cheat, steal: we do all these things for acceptance.  It may be acceptance from our peers, ourselves, our loves, or our hates; but it is what we strive for.  There are two very distinct paths to acceptance and two gateways: fate or choice.  Each way is paved in thorns that can pierce the most unyielding defenses.  While some recognize the golden arrow head, others see a stone and skip it across the pond of their own arrogance; believing that a sign will point the way.  They tell themselves that they have no choice in where their life goes.  Their eyes are dark, glazed over by ignorance.  Two stones strike in their hearts and a spark flies through the back of their mind.  Unfortunately for these, the kindling of a soul has been long drenched by the seas of doubt flowing through them.  The spark fades, the stones break, and the iron of their faulty armor falls aside rusted.

For others, the path is clear.  Even though they have no idea of the path they are on........

I'm the kind of guy who loves to discuss and debate and examine subject near and dear to my heart, even if my ability to meaningfully and pointedly express thoughts often lags behind my passion on the subject. So please bear with me as I try to convey my thoughts on this subject, and in this case the subject is ReBoot.

I first became aware of an attempt to renew interest in ReBoot from a little website called ReBoot Revival around March. I was so impressed with the website and hopeful of its goal I signed up immediately and even linked to it from my own (shameless plug) website. And why not I thought, after all over the last few years or maybe last decade would be better, I saw new life breathed back into a number of animated shows. I saw Family Guy, Futurama, Big O and to a lesser extent Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z revitalized thanks the exposure they received on Cartoon Network. Even ReBoot was rekindled in part thanks to Cartoon Network.

So when I heard Zeros 2 Heroes would be working with Rainmaker to produce a ReBoot comic I was excited and rushed to their website. As exciting the prospect of a new Reboot product was I was even more excited after reading this:

You've seen it before: a big entertainment company trying to squeeze out a few more ducats from a classic and much-beloved story.  They tart it up, modernize it, stick in a hip new sidekick, then parade the "new and improved" production in front of the fans... who are suitably disgusted.

Naturally, the production bombs and no one can seem to figure out why.  But this time, it's going to be different.

Rainmaker Entertainment is bringing back ReBoot.  And they want you - the fans - to help them get it right.

So with optimistic enthusiasm I dived into the different pitches eager to hear the ideas and see the concepts. I was little prepared for what I would find. I was infuriated by what I found; Alien invaders, Orwellian Nightmares, characters and concepts completely abandoned or radically changed, bad fan fiction, political demagoguery, ugly and unappealing artwork, and ideas that has little or no place in a product that should be based on established ReBoot material. Every failing that Zeros 2 Heroes mentioned was unfolding right before my eyes. Like most fans I wanted a continuation to the story that we were left hanging on not this nonsense. I was ready to walk away from the whole prospect.

But I let my head cool, remembered that fans were going to get a say in what happened and signed up to Zeros 2 Heroes. I took a deep breath and addressed each pitch for what it was and what I expected from a ReBoot comic. So I started with them as they were presented to me ReBoot: Regenerated was first up.

With ReBoot: Regenerated I really hated the idea that everything that I knew and loved from Reboot, Mainframe and all the characters were gone, destroyed was the word they used. And apparently the villain of the series Megabyte was responsible and vanished proclaiming a "New Viral Dawn" despite his speech given at the end of the ReBoot series. But after considering the concept and characters after that the idea began show promise. A new team of open source sprites battling viruses without consent from the guardians, while unraveling a plot between the new villainous omnimorph called Pathogen and the guardians could make for interesting reading. But this is the kind of story that could be told without involving or affecting the original material, making it perfect for a spin-off if all that destruction nonsense is dropped.

Next was ReBoot: Arrival and I was immediately barraged by a number of concepts that I did not want in ReBoot. Space Aliens, earth invasions, and the user interacting with the characters to stop the alien invaders. No, I wanted no part of that. But then again all the characters were still there and the way I knew them. Even mainframe was still there admit in danger but still a part of the story. And concepts from the original material were being brought up and expanded upon, like the Net and the Codemasters. Aside from the alien invasion nonsense this felt a lot like the ReBoot I knew and loved, but that was a lot to put off to the side. If the real world junk could be dropped or carefully minimized this would be a wonderful extension to the ReBoot world.

Then was ReBoot: 2.0 and the concept sounded very strong. The characters and world were still there and we were going to see what kind of affect a new "operating system" would have on all of them and their world. But then I started seeing what the idea of a new "operating system" really was, an excuse to radically change everything that was ReBoot to suit the storytellers needs. Instead of the stories of life inside a computer world it became another Orwellian story of the evils of "Big Government" and total control. It's a story we've heard time and time before and while that isn't inherently a bad thing it's a story I don't want in the ReBoot universe. I was particular disgusted when the villainous operation system was described as such "Serenity is the government, its Whitey, Big Brother and The Man all rolled into one." This coupled with the unnecessary and terrible changes to the character's designs and personality's makes what could have been an interesting idea an unbearable one.

Then I came across ReBoot: The Last Guardian and was immediately left with a bad taste in my mouth. After seventeen years or at least to give the benefit of the doubt to the writers the computer equivalent has pasted, and a new character called Bit who is the daughter of three of the original characters, Dot, Bob, and Megabyte is introduced as the new main character. Now the characters are there but they've been radically changed to show off the new character Bit. Both the character and story reeks of self insertion and the Mary Sue concept that floats around fan fiction terminology. On top of this the entire story seems to happily discard everything that was setup and established throughout ReBoot's run. I can't see anyway to improve this since the entire concept of this pitch revolves around this new character and this new character doesn't seem like a good idea in the first place.

Lastly was ReBoot: The Last User. I wanted to scream. More aliens, horrible art, almost nothing remotely resembling the ReBoot we know aside from names. I'm honestly having such trouble expressing by distaste for this pitch in a coherent manner, that I feel I'm doing a disservice to any readers. The idea of aliens and their technology leading the world to a utopia only to have sinister intentions bores me greatly and has little place in a ReBoot story. These characters are bland and uninteresting, and this pitch is the worst offender as far as the list of faults listed by Zeros 2 Heroes is concerned. I can't nor want to help this idea improve.

My apologies if that was a little long winded, but I needed to express my thoughts and feeling concerning ReBoot and the pitches presented here, but after all that's what this revival is all about and what different teams want to hear.

If you haven't checked out the avatar builder lately, we've added some new gear. The most excellent Jessica has been hard at work crafting new creations even as she battles through the mother of all head colds.

There are ReBoot-ables galore, violent skin tones ... and did someone say "sumo suits"? If you have things you'd like to see, get involved and join her group .

... and we've listened to all you ReBooters.

We've just launched a "lite" version of that web warhouse: the forum . Come together in our ThinkUp and let us know if you like it, if it's ass or if you want some improvements.  We're here, we're listening and we've got nothing betterto do than make cool web sh*t for comics fans.

Seriously.  I love my job.

Frankly, we just don't know.

We kinda like the way a ChatBox shows each user's zed, we definitely like how they're "smart" and know which page they're on, and you may have noticed that we have a soft spot for Flash. But the real test is whether or not you like the new ChatBoxes.

You'll find these new ChatBoxes on different parts of the site - we're hoping they help y'all connect and converse. Post comments, the love and the hate and everything in between.

... or at least we'd better.  I have been assured by a very keen developer that we've resolved the upload error that was causing a few people some grief.  Should this not be the case, I will be introducing said developer to the business end of an antique disembowelling cutlass.  

So, head on over to the ReBoot Launcher and upload your best work.  We're going to be picking the best fan artists to work on the new ReBoot webcomic in September.  This will be a paid gig, so don't miss out!

When this project came up, I knew it was going to be something big, and I wanted to get involved. So I came up with some preliminary ideas, expecting I'd be asked to take on a writing role for one of the pitch teams.

Well, office politics is a brutal game, and I guess I sucked up to the wrong people or something because I didn't get picked. And that's why you won't get achance to vote for what would have been the runaway winner of this dog and pony show: The ReBoot Friends.

The ReBoot Friends was far more innovative than the watered down stuff that made it into the final five. How innovative, you ask? How about this - Live Action. That's right, the whole thing would be shot live in front of a studio audience. The idea is that technology within Mainframe has advanced so far that all the character icons and other graphic representations are now perfectly photo-realistic - so why not just shoot it that way? Here's an early proof of concept shot of Megabyte.

Is that brilliant or what? We had such high hopes for this...

In the show, the influx of data from the exponential growth of the Internet has created a population explosion in Mainframe. The address space is terribly overcrowded and rents are soaring. If you think Bob, Enzo and Megabyte had problems before, wait until they all have to share a trendy downtown apartment - right across the hall from Dot, AndrAIa and Hexadecimal's place!! It practically writes itself!

Romantic hijinks ensue as Bob and Enzo try to pursue Dot and AndrAIa, all while Megabyte schemes to take over the world and the goofy Hexadecimal gets a gig singing at the group's coffee shop hangout. And don't forget the adorable Frisket, played by none other than "Enzo," the real life dog from Frasier!

The ReBoot Friends would have taken ReBoot to a whole other level, and introduced it to a whole new legion of fans (from very desirable market demographics no less). But no, we were shot down before we got out of the gate by a criminal lack of foresight. The bigwigs calling the shots just didn't have the stones to let the fans see what was possible. They're cowardly little animals. Animals who should die.

When ReBoot began back in 1994, we weren't just introduced to a Guardian named Bob but a mysterious little devise called Glitch. Glitch, called a Keytool came across as a combination of a police officers handgun and a Swiss army knife, capable of assisting Bob. There was little emphasis put on Glitch asbeing nothing more then a tool. In The Crimson Binome, Glitch is stolen and given the status as being an 'it' with not consciousness of its own. Then came Season 3 and the scene between Turbo and Matrix. Keytools start talking! The cute little chirping sounded like R2 Units from Star Wars. I can't help but think about whether Jedi Knights actually understood the language R2 units spoke because they learned it or it was something deeper. It turned out in ReBoot to be deeper.

"A Keytool selects his Guardian. Few are chosen..." Turbo said.

So Keytools aren't just Swiss army knives, they are partners, dedicated to their Guardian. After that every time I would watch the end of Web World Wars I'd cringe a bit more. I wonder if Megabyte crushing Glitch caused some kind of pain for both it and Bob.

Okay I called Glitch 'it.' Whether Keytools are male hasn't been proven. All R2 units appeared to act male, and with the only named Keytools being Glitch and Copeland, they would seem male. But still, like in What's Love Got to do With It, Copeland is still treated as an it (at least by non - Guardians), I tend to think of them as 'its'. And as for the question, "mommy, where do Keytools come from?" I have no idea, but I think of them as a symbiotic race that somehow bonded to Guardians at their foundation.

The bond is selfless as shown in Mousetrap. Glitch gives up his separate existence to help Bob and his friends escape the Web. Someone wrote a fanfic from Glitch's perspective. It depicted Glitch still being self-aware while inside Bob to the point that made the former Keytool feel a little uncomfortable when Bob kissed Dot. It made the separation from Bob a good thing. It also brings up the Keytools separating Glitch from Bob. Keytools are very aware of each other's existence. They have to have some pathway connecting them as a whole, like a bee that can communicate to the hive where the flowers are. So the Keytools know Glitch is in trouble. Or at most Glitch is telling them, his Guardian is in trouble and to come quick to help and they do, saving them both. And they also make Glitch better then he was before in the process. It makes me wonder if they can regenerate, as they get older. If computers get upgrades, Keytools must evolve at some point.

Okay so after going though all this, I get to the dilemma. If as in pitched in Arrival, you want to kill Turbo and even the Collective off, how do you do in the Guardians with the Keytools? Keytools knew that when Daemon's infection spread, they left their Guardians. A very smart move. When you start assassinating Guardians, the Keytools are going to know something is wrong. The Guardians may order their Keytools to flee, leaving them to warn others. Keytools could download to attempt to protect their partners, which could destroy them both. Keytools will help their Guardians escape, perhaps even to the Web. If your going to do this, you got to get around this fact, killing a Guardian with a Keytool might look as easy as it did when Dixon Green died. But can you pull it off if the Collective knows their being hunted down. Lets say somehow Megabyte and/ or GNOSIS succeed in getting all the Guardians but not all the Keytools. Perhaps then they become a force to fight to assist Bob and his friends, taking the vengeance Bob might not be able to do. Maybe Copeland helps Bob get through the loss of Turbo, becoming another voice to listen to and assist Bob by locating sprites that have the quality to be Guardians. There are a lot of options here. Just don't neglect to overlook these benign looking beings. They are smarter then we all thought in the beginning. And the possibilities for their future use is there. I can see Bob being the last Guardian. I can't see Glitch being the last Keytool.

I keep seeing blogs that say "Let's skip the hunt" "We don't need to see the Hunt!" "Make it a small thing".

Basically, everyone wants to skip a major plot in the series, one we've been waiting to see, just to "not confuse the new audience". Don't you think we were confused when we first saw this show back in 1994? "Who is that blue guy? Who's the green girl and the green kid? What's with the guy with the spikey things? What's with that blue orb of stuff? What's with the thing on the blue guys arm? What are those odd symbols on everyone's chest? What's that purple cube thing? What are those thing they're flying on? What is with the guy with no legs? Why are there no other cities? What's a 'user'?" I could go on forever!

 Anything can easily be explained on the way. Why skip the Hunt? It can be resolved in 4 episodes (That's the format ReBoot took late Season 2, and with Season 3 and onward) and after that, we're open to new plots. Skipping the Hunt would skip so many great scenes between Bob and Megabyte.

 I realize these movies have to be made for the "general audience", but that's who ReBoot was going for when they started, and I'm sure A LOT of us were confused. So please, stop trying to skip the Hunt. It'll take 4 episodes. Even if we did skip the Hunt, people will be confused. They'll ask all the questions I listed above.

So here I am starting things out.  I actually attended Comic Con 07 and found out about this site and here I am.  My hope is to progress forward as a writer and get some motivation from this site.  Who knows?  We'll see what the future has in store for one such as I. 

-Never let your imagination be bound.