NP: Riding the Myth

Shall we begin?

Oh first of all, GUE MAU PAKE BAHASA ENDONESAAAHHH ANJEEERRR UDAH BERAPA WINDU GATAU DAH GUE SOK-SOKAN PAKE INGLISH MULU tapi ya jan salahin gua juga si, kan reader gue banyak yang internasional kan ya, makanya gue Inggrisan mulu mayan jir visitor kedua terbanyak dari US bukan Malay yaudahlah English it has been. Tapi untuk kali ini, karena ini cuma anak anak 90an Indonesia aja yang bisa relate, makanya ya mending pake bahasa Ibu Pertiwi aja gasih!?!?

OMG so excited wuwuwuwu.

Oke jadi bagi yang taun 2014 belum baca blog gue *azegg*, Neverland Playlist itu isinya lagu-lagu opening sama closing dari kartun-kartun -kebanyakan sih- Jepang -tapi bisa aja sih nanti tiba-tiba ada kartun apa gitu yang bukan Jepang- yang ngena banget di hati ini. Lantas apa kartun yang akan gue angkat sekarang, setelah hampir 3 tahun madol? Ini dia.

B't X

Category:

Younger Elementary

Well, sebenernya banyak sih kartun lain yang lebih membawa dampak dalam hidup dan lebih gue suka dari pada yang ini, tapi berubung kartun ini yang bikin gue jadi inget sama yang namanya Neverland Playlist, kayaknya gak sopan kalo bukan dia yang gue mainin duluan. Dan ternyata kartun ini gak seminor itu juga dalam hidup gue, karena pas gue play lagunya, merinding coy. Plus gue masih inget beberapa nada sama liriknya.

Dan gue inget banget dulu punya tiga mainannya. Pajangan X, robot kuda putih kece tunggangan si main character, sama Je T'aime dan Raidou, si phoenix merah dan naga biru yang alamak sumpah ya gue suka banget bentukannya huhu. Trus di ceritanya itu mereka berlima, tambah satu kuda item dan satu kura-kura ijo, adalah spirit animal yang mewakili arah-arah mata angin gituuuu ya gimana gue gak jatuh cinta sih gue paling doyan cerita-cerita yang agak adaptasi mitos-mitos kayak begini.

Tapi jujur buat gue ini kartun lumayan gore. Ya emang bukan manusianya sih yang dicabik-cabik, melainkan robot-robotnya. Tapi kan tetep aja, dari awal kan itu robot-robot emang hidup dan berteman sama manusia-manusianya ya, jadi gue yang kala itu masih polos dan belum ngerti apa-apa kan langsung nganggep mereka semua makhluk hidup ciptaan Allah SWT yang gak seharusnya gue lihat dalam bentuk kepala pecah, dada bolong, dan sejenisnya :(

But anyhow, gue suka banget ini kartun. Sampe muncul opening versi berikutnya pun, gue masih nonton dan 10 tahun kemudian gue masih apal nadanya. Nih bonus:

B't X Neo

Paraaaaaaaaahhh ya Tuhan Ilahi gimana nih gue jadi mellow sendu durjana. Di satu sisi gue nikmatin banget nostalgia-nostalgia ee' kayak gini, hunting lagu-lagu jadul buat diposting di playlist beraque ini, tapi di sisi lain rasanya bikin hidup jadi berat sebelah gitu gimana dong :(

I'm desperately in need to go back to the past.

And once again enjoy all those things happened.

But what can I do,

It's now just a myth

The Playlist Continues

So lately,

I've been pretty much in the mood of a nostalgia, I don't know why -well you know why: it's what you always do. Visiting Disneyland, binge-watching Naruto, watching Power Rangers, TWICE -one was at the cinema, you know, the recent remake film, and the other one was the classic MMPR The Movie with my same-interest coworkers!- the whole universe seemed to conspire on this.

And speaking of coworkers, actually, they bear this big role of making me trapped in this back-to-childhood dimension.

One girl watched all the shows and films I watched, including Disney classics—and when the songs play, especially Mulan's "I'll Make A Man Out of You", we'll be a couple of fools. One boy is a big fan of Spongebob Squarepants. And he could make a quiet fair similar imitation of the voiceovers which sometimes dragged me into doing the same.

One other girl is a Power Ranger -I'm not saying 'fan', because for me, a fan of Power Rangers should be called a Power Ranger itself- and she was the one who organized this screening of the classic movie at the office. And there's this other guy, who is basically me, because apparently, we watched so many similar TV cartoons back in 90s. We work overtime a lot—most of the days we even stayed until there were only the two of us. And then began all the chit-chats and story-sharings about cartoon life back then.

One day he was talking about this robot anime I had no idea about, and it reminded me of one cartoon I used to watch, which I was pretty sure he also watched back then. So I asked him and what are the odds, it was one of his fave. We then browsed YouTube for the videos, Googled the images and the toys we had, and suddenly, all those reminded me of something.

My Neverland Playlist.

You remember some time ago, I have this plan to make my blog a bit more youthful, by posting the opening or ending credits of all cartoons I loved when I was a kid?

Yea it wasn't really that some time ago.

The last post of that kind was, August, 2014.

Ha ha. Fuck me, right?

But that night anime-talking with my coworker was a wake-up call. I told him that I had this nostalgic session in my blog, and he said that he'd really love to see it. And the next thing I know, bam, I had this sudden urge to resume what I had started.

So yea here it is,

We begin once again,

The tunes of the past

Silver

Late.

I know, it's almost been three weeks past the momentum. But similar to the previous posts, I cannot NOT talk about this one. No, it's not about childhood anymore. Instead, it's about me drifting even further from childhood. Yes,

It's about me turning 25.

Nice saying I got from a friend

I don't know how else to say it.
Time won't compromise.

I remember how five years ago I freaked out like a pig before entering the world of twenty, not being ready for this and that, and the next thing I know, dang, I turned 22. Then came that phase where I really enjoyed being an early 20s guy so I just had the time of my life and before I knew it, dang, I'm 25.

But you know what's good? Reaching the day, I didn't feel any fear or whatnot. Because I knew I had done fair good stuff so far. Everything turned out just well. REALLY, really well.

My first ever solo trips, happened when I was 20. My official internship and university graduation, which marked the very beginning of my adulthood, happened when I was 21. My freelance jobs and first book release, happened when I was 22. My very first permanent position and abroad job happened when I was 23, and my settling down career happened when I was 24. See, I always achieved something these recent years.

I didn't feel any fear or whatnot.
In welcoming this new life stage.
Instead, I feel more like... intrigued.

Exactly one day before my 25th birthday, I went jogging near my place. As usual, I put my earphones on, switched my iPod to shuffle mode, and let my body flew with the rhythm. Then Taylor Swift's "22" played. LOL. I liked the sarcasm. My asshole gadget knew that I was turning 25, so he reminded me how it was like to be 22. I couldn't ask for a better song to welcome my birthday. Until the next one came, and turned me upside down.

It was John Mayer's "Stop This Train"

Damn these two. It's not enough for them to create a drama in their own lives, now they created one inside my mind???

I've been listening to this song since the beginning of my college years. By that time I related to this song literal-wise. As I always went to my boarding room outside of the town, by train. So every Monday morning I'd always be like stop this train I wanna get off and go home again. That early stage of being an adult seemed so heavy to me back then, who still had known nothing about real life.

Meanwhile now, back to the jogging track where Taylor just finished singing and James started his tunes, when that set of lyrics came rushing into my earlobes, saying that turning 68, you'll renegotiate and you can't for a minute change the place you're in no matter how you try your hand—surprisingly,  I didn't feel terrified like I did 7 years ago. Instead,

I broke out of my immaturity.

And gave in to the fate, that I'm now 25.
And soon I'll be 26, 50, 68.
And I can't stop it.

In fact, I want to keep on going. I see a new milestone before me. More opportunities, more doors to see the world, more people to help me climb the ladder to my goals. I've done my first stage of life, perfectly, it's time to kick the next's ass.

I won't stop acting like a kid, I won't all of a sudden become a real mature individual with formal pants and suits, no. Deep inside I'll still be a 10 year old fool, adoring Power Rangers and Naruto, wearing the shortest pants a 25 year old would wear, hunt for the rest of my Toy Story collections, and buy unnecessary trinkets. That's how I cope with maturity, I don't care what people say. Let the age just be age. Let the clock do its own business.

Because time won't compromise.
And honestly, we'll never stop this train.

If you're questioning, the quote on my shirt says, "Space is the Place". It has nothing to do with the story though.

So yea.

Welcome, adulthood


P.S.: I wonder if in 25 years I'd still be writing here and make a post titled, "Gold"

Tale as Old as Time

Late.

Well ripple effects do work. I was late to start writing about the first topic, so I'm gon' be even later to talk about this. And the next one after this, and the next one after that. But ya I don't care, because still, it's about childhood. And there's no such thing as too late when it comes to childhood.

This time it's the other part of my childhood: Disney.

And what did Disney do lately that I'm bringing this up? You know

Poster's from here.

I've always watched the live action version that Disney had released so far. No, not that I'm into them and been expecting for them eww no—I'm a die hard fan of Disney classic, hand-written version -oh yeah, Moana, Big Hero Six, and all those 3D animated thingy were good, but still I prefer something like The Princess and the Frog- and all these live action shits, I only watch them to see if they're good enough for me to adore. And to see how far they ruined their own creation.

So there are already four? Five Disney live action movies so far? Yea around that number and to begin with, I hated Alice in Wonderland because it was all too trippy and color-shocking. I hated Maleficent because the Aurora isn't cute as I expected, and I hated The Jungle Book because it was too dark and having too much animation -plus I hate kids who act like adults. I liked Cinderella because it was pretty nice. They made a little twist to the storyline, but it was fine. And for Beauty and the Beast, well,

It's the best so far.

I adore how they stick to the original plot. It's like watching the classic version, only now it's alive—and that's how a live action works, right?! You shouldn't have made changes here and there to make it different from the original one, no, you should stay to what's been made in the past, because that's how you stole the fans' heart!

Beauty and the Beast did just what I expected. The storyline, the characters and their names, the SONGS, ahh the songs, they really know how to please old fans—sing the same damn songs from the original one! Still I'm not a big fan of its much-too-overwhelming-3D-DI-things, plus the furniture are pretty creepy and not lovely like the original ones but, it's all still tolerable, really.

Portrait's from here.

Well they said that there are 19 more on the line. 19 what? 19 live action films, of course! And Mulan is one of them! Crazy, huh? Well not really, if what they are doing is similar to what they did for Beauty and the Beast.

Because Lord, I don't want to see Snow White fighting,

I don't want to see Mufasa die of drowning in a river,

I don't want to see Tinkerbell saying even a word,

All I want to see is a childhood Disney tale,

That is true as it can be

Power Rangers

Late.

Late, late late late late, sssuper late. I hate how I've always had the intentions to write, but I kept holding myself back from starting that the next thing I know, poof, I lost the momentum. Like this one I'm going to talk about. Although, for this case's sake, I cannot NOT talk about it.

You know how I've always pointed out things I like from my childhood in this blog, eh? Do you remember that once I mentioned that there is one childhood stuff which, I claimed, "made me what I am today"? Yep, Digimon. It did play an important role of my early life, really, but, here's the part where I want to admit something, I lied a little.

Because there was something else.
That actually made me what I am today.

Something that lasted from my preschool ages,

All the way to the early junior high school stage.

You know from the title, it's

The Power Rangers

Pic's from here.

They were the core of my life—I was all about Power Rangers, thoroughly. The casts became my idols. The figures and zords became my toys. And don't forget about the characters distribution: I had always been red. My brother had always been blue, my two older boy cousins had always been black and white, and my two girl cousins had always be pink and yellow -I didn't make this thing up. Before my youngest brother was born, there were the six of us: four boys, two girls, WHAT ARE THE ODDS??? These colors then became my favorites, even for daily life, non-Power-Ranger things.

Then when it comes to the watching routines, those binge-watching years, oh, Lord, I'd kill to go back in time and pat myself for being such a maniac. I remember how I always stick to the TV screen every Sunday morning, waiting for the Mighty Morphins to come. And how I always finish my homework earlier after school, so I could catch the Turbos to shift. All my life, once again, was all about them.

And then there were the movie version. Covering the squad I adored the most. I went head over heels for this. Had the laser disk -OMG I'm so proud of being awesomely retro, got the script memorized, bought the zords and reenact the storyline, imitated all the catchy poses with my brothers and friends, fvck, I was a weirdo!

Teenage-hood and all its endless activities separated me from the franchise, but when internet broke out and YouTube ruled, I began to relive my memories. The episodes, the opening credits, the morphing scenes and of course, the movie. From then on up til today, I slowly regained the excitement I always felt when I was younger. Until finally, a big news hit us about last year.

Yep, the reason why I'm writing this: the remake.

Pic's from here.

With all the trends of movie remakes and how people got disappointed at any of those things, at first I didn't expect much about this movie. Because, well, to begin with, these new five are not the ones I grew up with. Then Billy is black instead of white, Trini is Latina instead of Asian, and Zach is Asian instead of black. Plus, and this instantly became the major turnoff for me: the suits and the zords, plus Zordon and Alpha, all of those things I really loved most from the original version of Power Rangers, appeared to be much too absurd. Like the Iron Man. Or Transformers. Whatever it is, I hate it. So much.

But then, as the worshiper of Power Rangers, I wouldn't miss this for life. So I went to cinema with some coworkers, whom apparently were fans of Power Rangers too -although I'm sure they're not as freaks as I am, to see if the classic childhood chills would still rush into my vein.

And it did, rush into my vein.

No, not because it was good. But because once the new movie played before my eyes, I had the original version playing in the back of my mind.

I saw the old Jason I had this mancrush on, and the old Kimberly I had the real crush on. I saw the original toy-like, non-DI zords, I saw the original low-quality, bald-headed Zordon, the fat Alpha, the clown-like Rita Repulsa and birdy Goldar—I saw the retro side of Power Rangers instead of the high tech ones. And when it reached the part where the zords were out, and that original "Go Go Power Rangers" anthem played, God Almighty, I cried.

Because no matter how much they ruined the essence,
How much they altered what once was called "classic"

Still,

It bears the name Power Rangers,
And as I said, I wouldn't miss the thing that
Made me who I am today