Iron Man: Armored Adventures *SPOILERS*

[Podmark]

Saw the 1 hour premiere today.

Synopsis:
[spoiler]First thing throw away all your preconceptions about Iron Man. Just throw them away.
In this show Tony is a 16 year old genius. He's been home schooled while working for his dad's company. He's got 'a billion patents' and seemed to be the inventive power behind the company. His best friend is a 16 year old Rhodey.

Howard Stark has a strict no weapons policy. His CEO Obadiah Stane  wants to get into weapons (you know where this is going). The Stark's are on a plane to see a demonstration of the newest tech. Tony wants to show his dad his new invention (the Iron Man armor). Howard shows Tony this ring he has saying it could have great power. Then the plane explodes. Tony survives somehow, I think his armor saved him, didn't follow it that well. 

So we skip forward, Tony now has the heart implant to keep him alive and he's living with the Rhodes. Obadiah has taken over the company until Tony is 18 and has gone into weapons. Tony now has to go to school. He's miles ahead of his teachers. We meet Pepper Potts, and Happy Hogan. Happy is kind of a dumb jock. Pepper is the daughter of an FBI agent and seems to know everything about Tony, Stark International, his dad, and Obadiah including the fact that he's being investigated in Howard's death.

This sets Tony off to use his Iron Man armor to spy on Stane and unearth the truth. Tony has rebuilt a hidden old lab of his father's. Rhodey becomes his Oracle as Tony goes to Stark International, but he ends up stopping a runaway train instead. He's seen by the media and dubbed Iron Man. Stane sees it and wants the suit. The train was plot by the Mandarin (who wears a robotic Iron Man-like suit), who was trying to obtain the ring now held by Stane.

Mandarin runs some kind of cult with his own ninja guys. His step son Gene is there and they argue. Apparently the Mandarin doesn't realize the power of the rings, but Gene does. Gene replaces his step father.

Tony learns that Stain is doing a demonstration of weapons developed from Tony's designs. He's angry and goes to destroy them. Rhodey's helping him through a computer link but has to sign off because Pepper shows up wanting to know where Tony is and Rhodey can only offer lame lies.

Gene as the Mandarin shows up using a teleporting ring and steals Stane's (Howard's) ring, an energy blast ring. Tony destroys the weapons but is beaten by the Madarin, who escapes.[/spoiler]

And my thoughts:
[spoiler]I didn't hate it.

Don't usually post such long spoilers but felt like it here, probably because this show is such a departure from regular Iron Man. It's got kind of a Smallville vibe to it, Rhodey is kind of a Pete Ross/late season Chloe, Pepper is kind of like early season Chloe, Stane is like Lionel, and Happy reminded me of Ultimate Spider-Man's Kong.

I'm not really sure what to say about the animation. It's not terrible but it's not as good as Clone Wars by any means. It's kind of low detail and the movements lack fluidity. But honestly it didn't bother me.

Origin plot moves kind of quickly, but they made the Mandarin fit in very easily which is probably a plus. Still it seems kind of unoriginal. Like I said it's got a similar vibe to Smallville and I just know it's going to piss off purists. I know little of Iron Man outside of Avengers so it doesn't bug me that much. I actually like the Smallville type setup in general so there is some potential in that.

I remember Craig Kyle, one of Marvel Animation's heads, said to give this show a chance. Obviously he knows people are going to be turned off so I'm hoping they've put together something cool. [/spoiler]

[cmdrkoenig67]

Another attempt to get younger folk interested in comics? 

[spoiler]I'm not opposed to pulling in new fans, but once these "youngsters" start reading the comics, won't they be a bit put off that Tony Stark isn't a 16 year old?  Not to mention, he never had any such adventures as a teen?

I'm not a big fan of Iron Man/Tony Stark...Especially after all the character did (via his writers, of course)...Before, during and after Marvel's Civil War...He's a scumbag, but if you enjoy the character (as well as alternate versions), then you'll probably like the show. [/spoiler]   

Dana

[Previsionary]

My thoughts:

[spoiler]It kinda reminded me of Ultimate Ironman in a way. Only because of the friendship between Tony and Rhodey + the young starting age. That's it as far as that goes. I thought it was perfectly ok. I'd have to see more of it before getting critical with it. Compared to the MTV Spider-man cartoon and the cgi in the 90s Spidey toon, this is a definite improvement. The thing I hate about the style though is the lack of details. Everything appears as pretty much one flat color with the very basic of shading added. It took me awhile to adjust to it. It can be much better is all I'm saying. Mandarin got quite a redesign. Not sure on my thoughts on that. Oh, I agree with Pod about Happy. He even looks like him a bit.

I do think Pepper has a slightly annoying personality that I'm very used to seeing. I hope it tames as the season progresses. Also, Tony, like Logan, meets a lot of walls.[/spoiler]

Dana:

[spoiler]I don't think that's a major problem...depending on which book the kids pick up. Spider-man appeared as a college student for years and he hasn't been in college for years. He also currently appears as a grade 11 in high school and it's not causing issues. Not to mention that Ironman has tons of exposure to draw from: Disney shows the old Ironman cartoon, the Ironman movie (2 including the toon), the games, the latest attempt at a fan4 toon, the Avengers movies (3 from recent times with Tony in it), plus the upcoming cartoon featuring Tony again should be just enough exposure for most peeps to know that, outside of the 90s, Tony isn't a teenaged brat. :P[/spoiler]

[BWPS]

Another attempt to get younger folk interested in comics? 

[spoiler]I'm not opposed to pulling in new fans, but once these "youngsters" start reading the comics, won't they be a bit put off that Tony Stark isn't a 16 year old?  Not to mention, he never had any such adventures as a teen?

I'm not a big fan of Iron Man/Tony Stark...Especially after all the character did (via his writers, of course)...Before, during and after Marvel's Civil War...He's a scumbag, but if you enjoy the character (as well as alternate versions), then you'll probably like the show. [/spoiler]   

Dana

At this point any kid in the world knows Iron Man's "real" origin story.

[Talavar]

When is this show airing?

[Podmark]

When is this show airing?

I think it was just a sneak peak. I don't see it again on Teletoon's lineup right now.