The first season was a lot of fun. I got a lot of enjoyment from watching it, and it had me looking forward to a lot more seasons of it hopefully coming out. The animation was slick, there were characters in it from the movies that were fun to engage with again, and the stories had some ummph.
And then, Season 2 came out. That season left me kind of scratching my head and wondering what happened. The stories were a little janky and the characters not so much fun. But I stuck with it because the animation was still fun to watch, and there was still a smidgen of characters and resonance with the stories from the movies. But it was a step back from season one's appeal.
Then, season 3 finally dropped. And lack a sack of wet rice onto wet, steaming pavement.
A kaiju hulk? Seriously? Like, really. Seriously? And with giant mechs piloted by our... or... heroes, driving them? It came off like an homage to bad Japanese cinema. And then all ended with a supermech join-up of all the mechs to make one giant mech?
Okay, for some, this might have been some fun. But for any Marvel purist, this is such a departure from the rails from what Marvel is, it was almost shocking to watch. "This is not Marvel!" Which was what I was thinking through most of it. And also thinking, and grinding my teeth over the very obvious cash-grab it was, by Disney execs. "Let's try to draw in the 'Power Ranger' and 'Kaiju-loving' crowds, too! Marvel? Who cares if it's not Marvel? It will make us money, so make it and put it out there!" And then it didn't help that the story sucked, too.
That and the obvious money-grab that this was, could probably stand as a presentation in a course of "How to Kill a Brand 101".
It killed my interest in it, completely. Let the execs at Disney paint slop all over their brand without me needing to see the travesty they make of what was, just within this last decade, one of the most respected and even revered brands in cinema history. Marvel and me are done.
