What's crackalackin'?

[alicestrangeway]

Well, hey! I'm new here. Obviously. Hm, "crackalacking"...a word I've never used before, and hopefully never will again.

So, I first watched Monsters Inc. aged five, and was instantly enamoured with Randall. For me, there was no “delayed reaction” – it was love at first sight. I had a plushie which I kept on the end of my bed, a poster, and I forced my mother (who is an excellent drawer) to do me hundreds of pictures to put in my scrapbook. Seriously, Boo’s sketches were a whole lot better than mine, especially considering she was three years younger than me. My parents naturally thought I was insane. After all, what five-year-old is attached to the “villain” rather than the big cuddly main character?

Anyway, time passed and, naturally, I grew out of the obsession. By the time I was 7, I’d pretty much forgotten I’d ever seen the movie. Recently, though, I heard of the prequel coming out in 2013 and was like, “Oh, hey, Monsters Inc. I kind of liked that movie when I was little. Maybe I’d better watch it again, to refresh my memory." So I did, and I rediscovered my old love for the film, its characters, and specifically, one character. I’m sure you can guess who.

I stumbled on this board completely by accident and was DELIGHTED to find I wasn’t the only strange one. I agree with everything that’s said on here to a T and figured I should become a member. I may not be able to post as often as I'd like, but I WILL be reading every thread that appears! To all the members, thank you for creating this - I love y'all.

Am I meant to describe myself on here as well? Okay. Um…

I’m a crazy cat lady, suffering artist, anglophile, authoress, romantic, explorer, detective, would-be vegetarian and rebelle. I love weird clothes and people. I once forgot where Europe was. I have a file on my computer entitled “Moustaches”, dedicated to photographs of me and my friends with objects balanced under our noses (napkins, spaghetti, socks, pencils, éclairs, etc). I own 28 hats, one of which is a Victorian top hat with an enormous ostrich feather on it. I am easily stressed. And I can’t stop eating chocolate.

Also, I love rainbows. Rainbows are awesome. If something has a rainbow on, I will buy it. I have bought many Gay Pride items in the past without realising they are Gay Pride, and have subsequently been mistaken for a lesbian.

Well…that’s everything. I think. Sorry for my rambling.
Again, thanks for creating this board, whoever created it! You’ve made a haven for us crazy fans to congregate in and share our strangeness.

Share the love! ;D

[pitbulllady]

Glad you joined us, alicestrangeway! Rest assured, you're not the only "crazy" person who loves Randall, who sees beyond that surface paint of "he's just a villain". I think there's a bit of rebel in all of us that makes us go against the grain, and in this case, the "grain" would be finding Mike and Sulley to be the most interesting and appealing characters in MI. Like you, I fell for Randall the moment I saw him. It wasn't a matter of having to think it over.
This site has been quiet, given how long it's been since the movie was out, but hopefully things will pick up as the prequel gets closer. I've got mixed feelings about that myself, since I never have been a great fan of prequels in the first place, and of course, there's my concern that Randall is once again going to be portrayed simply as someone who was just inherently evil(no doubt because he's reptilian)and has had it in for dear Mike and Sulley from the time they first met. I hope Pixar is not that shallow, but I've lost a lot of trust in them over the years since MI came out.

pitbulllady

[alicestrangeway]

I thought that too, but I'm hoping that the prequel might be a chance for us to learn more about Randall and his background, and why he is the way he is. My head-canon is that he was bullied at some point. But Pixar knows that we exist and what we want - at least, they must do seeing as the board is listed on their website - so the likelihood is that they'll slip something in to appease us. And you never know - Pixar seems keen on its sequels, so there might be another follow-up in years to come. (Shrek, anyone? Toy Story?) If Monsters University is popular, they might turn it into a trilogy. We can only hope...

Just out of curiosity - how many active members are on this board? I know there were quite a few at some point, but scanning through the recent topics all I see are threads from you and mintygreen. I'm not complaining; your posts are always fascinating to read, as well as amazingly detailed (where do you get all your information? Is it just from the DVD special features?). But are you the only ones, or is this just a quiet period?

Anyway, thank you for replying and I shall keep my fingers crossed for the new movie.

(I should mention: I am dragging my little cousin along as a cover to make it look like I’m not actually a nearly-sixteen-year-old girl going to see a “kid’s” movie. That way I can just say to everyone, “I know, I’m having to go and see this movie ‘cause of my little cousin…it’s a real drag, isn’t it?” I’m basically a closeted Pixar fan. Sadface.)

[pitbulllady]

Jul 6, 2012 14:24:51 GMT -5 alicestrangeway said:

I thought that too, but I'm hoping that the prequel might be a chance for us to learn more about Randall and his background, and why he is the way he is. My head-canon is that he was bullied at some point. But Pixar knows that we exist and what we want - at least, they must do seeing as the board is listed on their website - so the likelihood is that they'll slip something in to appease us. And you never know - Pixar seems keen on its sequels, so there might be another follow-up in years to come. (Shrek, anyone? Toy Story?) If Monsters University is popular, they might turn it into a trilogy. We can only hope...

Just out of curiosity - how many active members are on this board? I know there were quite a few at some point, but scanning through the recent topics all I see are threads from you and mintygreen. I'm not complaining; your posts are always fascinating to read, as well as amazingly detailed (where do you get all your information? Is it just from the DVD special features?). But are you the only ones, or is this just a quiet period?

Anyway, thank you for replying and I shall keep my fingers crossed for the new movie.

(I should mention: I am dragging my little cousin along as a cover to make it look like I’m not actually a nearly-sixteen-year-old girl going to see a “kid’s” movie. That way I can just say to everyone, “I know, I’m having to go and see this movie ‘cause of my little cousin…it’s a real drag, isn’t it?” I’m basically a closeted Pixar fan. Sadface.)

We've had a lot of folks over the years who discovered Randall, joined the board, then moved on to another fandom. You know how many fans are; they're all gung-ho over someone one week, and the next week they could care less about that character or movie or whatever because something else has come along. We've had many members who honestly just wanted attention, and weren't really fans per se. And, to be honest, a group left here because they didn't like me or RandallBoggs because our opinions differed from theirs. One in particular developed a huge disliking of me because I take a very strong stand against people wantonly killing snakes just because they are snakes and then posting their pics on Deviant Art to gloat and boast as if they've saved the world from some horrible evil monster by bashing a Garter Snake to death with a shovel(apparently instrument of choice in dispatching all manner of scaly creatures). She refused to acknowledge that most people have a bias against reptiles in general and has no issue with people killing them for the hell of it. I do.

I haven't been to Pixar's official site in quite some time, so I wasn't aware that this board was listed. Are you sure you're referring to their official site, and not the Pixar Planet or Upcoming Pixar sites? Both of those are fan sites, not operated by Pixar or their employees, although supposedly there have been some Pixar employees lurking on the former. I'm sure that Pixar by now is well aware that Randall has a very large fan following, a very dedicated following that's stuck by him through thick and thin, and that many of those fans do not believe he is "evil" or that he started out "bad", or that he's beyond redemption. BUT, it waits to be seen if they actually agree with us or not. Everything that's been released involving Randall so far seems to be Pixar thumbing their collective noses at us, from the God-awful BOOM! comics(Sid as criminal mastermind in TWO universes, lol) to the Japan Disney "Ride and Go Seek" attraction, where you can purchase plush DEAD Randall cubes at the gift shop. I'm a cynical, quite skeptical person myself; it comes with old age, unfortunately, so I'm not really holding out a lot of hope that Randall will be portrayed positively at any point in Monsters University. He might not even have much of a role at all, despite Steve Buscemi getting top billing as a cast member on many sites. I would rather just have him fleetingly appear, than for Pixar to portray him as someone who has always been bad. IF they show his "slide into darkness", starting out as someone who was just another student, perhaps a friend of either Mike or Sulley, and show how and why he came to harbor so much resentment of them, then they'd BETTER have a trilogy, or at least a "short", to resolve what happened to Randall. I absolutely detest what was done to him in the original-regardless of what he did, he did NOT deserve that, especially given that Waternoose went to jail! Sulley and Mike got by with what would be considered a lynching under our law, what was surely illegal under theirs, and it really tarnished their sterling reputations in my eyes. That either of them, and Sulley especially, can simply go through life and forget Randall ever existed and never feel one pang of guilt about what they did, and STILL be held up as heroes by the Pixar people, is simply unacceptable. Heroes don't lynch anyone. I'd be happy if Pixar just let Randall star in his own animated short, or special on the DVD, as long as they don't try to cram that "evil reptile Randall" down my throat.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

I think Marty from Madagascar has made that word nation-wide know hehehe.
Oooh, hold on to that plushie of Randall, those things are rare and pricy.

And like PBL said, yes, your not alone. In some ways we're sort of the underdogs of the fanship. Many consider our observations strange and intriguing...to misleading and pathetic. The later I hope you don't face (though you won't face that here).

Pixar's intention with the prequel, in terms for Randall, is speculatory at this point. I've researched the teaser trailer and have concluded little for what could happen with Randall.
However, through my observation, it is my hope that there actually is no "villain" in this prequel. That the antagonist is the "protagonists" themselves.

Quiet periods have occurred...however I have posted my research notes on the trailer...and there's always the Fanart (my personal CoMONdy session. ADVERTISEMENT OF SHAME!!) and fanfiction section. And with the upcoming prequel (if it CAN be called that...), it should pick up.

[pitbulllady]

Jul 6, 2012 18:33:43 GMT -5 RandallBoggs said:

I think Marty from Madagascar has made that word nation-wide know hehehe.
Oooh, hold on to that plushie of Randall, those things are rare and pricy.

And like PBL said, yes, your not alone. In some ways we're sort of the underdogs of the fanship. Many consider our observations strange and intriguing...to misleading and pathetic. The later I hope you don't face (though you won't face that here).

Pixar's intention with the prequel, in terms for Randall, is speculatory at this point. I've researched the teaser trailer and have concluded little for what could happen with Randall.
However, through my observation, it is my hope that there actually is no "villain" in this prequel. That the antagonist is the "protagonists" themselves.

Quiet periods have occurred...however I have posted my research notes on the trailer...and there's always the Fanart (my personal CoMONdy session. ADVERTISEMENT OF SHAME!!) and fanfiction section. And with the upcoming prequel (if it CAN be called that...), it should pick up.

I'm totally hoping that there won't be a villain or "bad guy" myself, RB. It's really not necessary at all. There will be enough conflicts/resolutions and generally weird stuff going on simply because it's COLLEGE, without bringing a central bad guy onto the scene, unless it's Waternoose, to show how he initially manipulated Randall(AND Sulley, too)to turn them against each other. Even if they DO go that route, though, it doesn't resolve what happened to Randall in the original. I'm kinda hoping...but it's a hope that's growing fainter...that maybe Monsters University will combine present-day with flash-backs, perhaps kicking off with Mike and Sulley remembering their college days with Randall and wondering what went wrong, and that by the end of the movie, things between the three of them will have been resolved to at least some extent.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

Although wikipedia has been bashed for it's "all can enter information" thing...it's proposed that Waternoose will be in the film with a new actor...
But I'm guessing he may be a "guest speaker" to encourage students. If Randall is shown to have his inventive and mechanical expertise, Waternoose might "eye him out".

I doubt that there will be flashbacks...despite the fact of how I describe how it can perfectly be done over at Pixar Planet. It would STILL leave room for a sequel and show a more dramatic touch to things.
In brief, it sort of relates to events currently going on. Sullivan is CEO, a job he was never trained/prepared for, taking up MANY responsibilities. He'd remember in the past where he DIDN'T have so many responsibilities, when he was free to do what he wanted.
Wazowski's relationship with Celia also plays into this.

At the end I'm hoping all three are shown to be on an even base and yes, exactly, in the future wondering "what went wrong" and poses that question to viewers, leaving the sequel to answer them.
====
The villain, as I proposed, would be the protagonists themselves. Sullivan's a jerk (no matter how OVERLY-dedicated fans, there all aren't), and Wazowki's....well...I dunno, Wazowski I have no idea about....so his antagonist is HIMSELF.
Randall is just as good a Scarer as Sullivan is, probably even better. If his role IS small, he may very well be shown AS a Scarer already. Maybe he takes special interest in Sullivan and Wazowski (essentially filling his trainer role as he was). And Wazowski fails, thereby showing what begins their animosity toward each other.
Sullivan doesn't hate Randall, and Randall doesn't hate Sullivan (until certain events)...so they CAN'T have a reason to hate each other before. If they do, then it totally ruins things later on and makes no sense.

[alicestrangeway]

Sorry, I was referring to Pixar Planet - but like pitbulllady said, I'm pretty sure there are a few officials flitting around on there to gauge the moods of their fans. I should also mention that the Boom! comics (yes, I hated them too) are not actually by Pixar, but are a separate spin-off. Pixar only gave the authors PERMISSION, and it's pretty unlikely that they'd have refused whatever their opinions on the content - after all, it's a way to make money for them, so they wouldn't have turned it down just because they didn't feel the characters were accurately portrayed.

That thing about the snakes is horrible, by the way. Now you mention it, I think I did stumble across the thread in question - is that the incident where the guy stabbed a snake in the throat and posted photos on DeviantArt? I can hardly believe that people think it's okay to do things like that and, what's more, label it as "art". Horrible. I'm actually quite keen on reptiles; when I was younger I longed for a leopard gecko or corn snake, but my mother hated them so much I could never get one. *wistful sigh*

As for the thing about members leaving the board because they lose interest, all I can say is that I will try very hard not to do that. It's true my interests tend to fluctuate, but they work on a kind of rota - sometimes I just need a break from one fandom, so I'll move on to another for a while, but I'll never completely abandon the first one. If I haven't posted for a long time, it's probably down to exams or Real Life, that syndrome which strikes all of us at some point.

Also, I agree with all the ideas about the sequel. Flashbacks would definitely be interesting, but at least for now, it seems unlikely. As far as I can make out, it seems to be all about Sulley and Mike and how they started off as bitter enemies, with Mike acting the role of school geek. (That just doesn't roll with me, though. He's a long way from a geek, being as lazy as he is and probably not the brightest either ) What I think will happen is that the three of them start off on an okay footing, not the best of friends but not rivals either, until something happens that Randall can never forgive. Some kind of betrayal, maybe? Or it could even have been something insignificant, forgettable - after all, sometimes the small things can just grow and grow until you can't even remember where all the hatred started. If you think about it, Randall DEFINITELY hates Sulley in the movie, but Sulley does not initially show animosity back until the plot starts happening. "May the best monster win", and all that. Which causes me to think that maybe Randall has some kind of grudge, and Sulley feels almost guilty about that in some ways - and we might just find out the reason for it all in the new movie. It's rare that two individuals just start hating one another so intensely for no reason, and I don't buy that the rivalry was the ONLY reason.

Again, this is all speculation, but I suppose all we can do is wait and see.

(Note to self: my god this post turned out long. I should be doing a history paper right now. Ah well...let's just call it a warm-up, hey? xD)

[RandallBoggs]

I wouldn't say DEFINITELY...Randall has more animosity toward Wazowski than Sullivan. It's only when Sullivan ruins so much that it develops.

As for the prequel...at the core, it's unknown if it will be a "prequel"....or "Monsters Inc. IN college". The later being not an actual plot, but just plopping everyone in the college setting and just seeing how it goes.

[pitbulllady]

Jul 7, 2012 16:06:32 GMT -5 alicestrangeway said:

Sorry, I was referring to Pixar Planet - but like pitbulllady said, I'm pretty sure there are a few officials flitting around on there to gauge the moods of their fans. I should also mention that the Boom! comics (yes, I hated them too) are not actually by Pixar, but are a separate spin-off. Pixar only gave the authors PERMISSION, and it's pretty unlikely that they'd have refused whatever their opinions on the content - after all, it's a way to make money for them, so they wouldn't have turned it down just because they didn't feel the characters were accurately portrayed.

That thing about the snakes is horrible, by the way. Now you mention it, I think I did stumble across the thread in question - is that the incident where the guy stabbed a snake in the throat and posted photos on DeviantArt? I can hardly believe that people think it's okay to do things like that and, what's more, label it as "art". Horrible. I'm actually quite keen on reptiles; when I was younger I longed for a leopard gecko or corn snake, but my mother hated them so much I could never get one. *wistful sigh*

As for the thing about members leaving the board because they lose interest, all I can say is that I will try very hard not to do that. It's true my interests tend to fluctuate, but they work on a kind of rota - sometimes I just need a break from one fandom, so I'll move on to another for a while, but I'll never completely abandon the first one. If I haven't posted for a long time, it's probably down to exams or Real Life, that syndrome which strikes all of us at some point.

Also, I agree with all the ideas about the sequel. Flashbacks would definitely be interesting, but at least for now, it seems unlikely. As far as I can make out, it seems to be all about Sulley and Mike and how they started off as bitter enemies, with Mike acting the role of school geek. (That just doesn't roll with me, though. He's a long way from a geek, being as lazy as he is and probably not the brightest either ) What I think will happen is that the three of them start off on an okay footing, not the best of friends but not rivals either, until something happens that Randall can never forgive. Some kind of betrayal, maybe? Or it could even have been something insignificant, forgettable - after all, sometimes the small things can just grow and grow until you can't even remember where all the hatred started. If you think about it, Randall DEFINITELY hates Sulley in the movie, but Sulley does not initially show animosity back until the plot starts happening. "May the best monster win", and all that. Which causes me to think that maybe Randall has some kind of grudge, and Sulley feels almost guilty about that in some ways - and we might just find out the reason for it all in the new movie. It's rare that two individuals just start hating one another so intensely for no reason, and I don't buy that the rivalry was the ONLY reason.

Again, this is all speculation, but I suppose all we can do is wait and see.

(Note to self: my god this post turned out long. I should be doing a history paper right now. Ah well...let's just call it a warm-up, hey? xD)

I can't see Mike EVER being the hard-working, studious geek-type of guy, and I'm having trouble completely buying into Sulley being a practical joker, too. THAT seems more of Randall's speed, unless the two of them were in cahoots as the campus pranksters at some point. Then again, I've seen a lot of movie trailers which did not accurately portray the characters or events in the actual movie, which was one of the reasons I never saw MI in theaters. It just seemed to me like a rip-off of a Nicktoon I was(and still am, even though it's no longer in production)very fond of, "AHHH! Real Monsters!" I avoided Megamind in theaters like the plague because of its stupid trailers, which made it seem like a combo of Incredibles rip-off and yet-another round of typical Dreamworks fart jokes, even though nothing could be further from the actuality. It eventually wound up at the top of my favorite movie list of all-time. So, you just can't tell when it comes to trailers these days; the one for MU MIGHT be an indication of how the characters act in the movie, or not. Like you said, though, people don't just start hating each other for no reason. SOMETHING big had to have gone down to cause Randall to harbor that much resentment of Sullivan, and even moreso, for Wazowski. Mike really seemed to be the one who kept stirring the proverbial fecal matter by rubbing Randall's second-place status in his face, after all. Had that little scene in the locker room not happened to set a negative tone for the workday, I don't think that Randall would have acted like a jerk(yeah, I said it)when Sulley offered to shake hands with him.

Ah, yeah, the snake torturers on DA...the incident with the poor Water Snake was one of many, probably the first, but not the one that caused some of the board members here to leave. THAT one involved a guy beating a Black Racer to death with a shovel, and posting its mutilated corpse on DA, actually CREATING a user profile for that purpose, and boasting about how he'd saved his kid from this horrible thing that was "going after" the kid, the dogs, etc., along with who-knows-how-many other lives by slaying this beast. Almost always it's the same: the person doing the killing justifies that act by claiming that the snake was "going after" or "attacking" either a child or a pet, even though it would be completely illogical and irrational for a snake to do that, when it clearly cannot EAT either a child or a dog, and is incapable of actually hurting anyone at all! That was the case with the guy in Louisiana who caught a harmless Yellow-Bellied Water Snake(a docile species I happen to keep as pets) and rammed a hunting knife down its throat, then threw it to the ground to photograph it as it writhed in agony and died. He claimed it was a "Water Moccasin" (so why would he pick it up if it was venomous?)that was "going after his little bro", but later admitted to me in a PM(after DA threatened to kick him off)that he'd known it was harmless, his "little bro" was actually 17, and they'd just wanted to torture and kill something and watch its suffering because they "got off" on that, and it was "just a snake" so they didn't figure anyone would actually mind. Wanna meet your neighborhood serial killer? Might wanna check DA first. It's widely known that many serial killers start out by torturing and killing animals, to hone their skills and because they do "get off" on pain and suffering in other living things, be they human or animal.

We have had a lot of board members who were very young, like 10 or 11. Many didn't join because they like Randall, but because they just wanted somewhere to hang out and get attention, or because one of their friends or a sibling joined. We had a pair of sisters come on here just to fight, seriously. And, like you said, for many people, it was more a matter of that nasty disease called Real Life getting in the way. In some cases, a parent did not approve of them being here on a board devoted to such an "evil" character. Given how much time has elapsed since the original movie was released, and how little spotlight has actually been shown on Randall by Disney-Pixar as compared to Mike and Sulley, though, it's pretty amazing that the board is still here at all. Few fans stick with their characters for that long without getting ANYTHING good in the form of "canon" from the studio to keep them happy.

pitbulllady

[RandallBoggs]

I don't buy Wazowski being the geek type. No no no, that is just bizarre.
I DO believe, heavily, that Sulley is the jerk jock type. I proposed that before a prequel was even thought of.
As for Randall joining him, that's a possibility. I would imagine him a bit of a shut-in hard studier, but the prankish part might be a childish antic he was not levy to in earlier years (probably being more on the receiving end).

I'm not sure the degree of resentment is as big as some think. But yes, whatever the degree, Wazowski is more of the one that causes it. Sullivan just gets in between (wheather he wants to or not).

[mintygreen]

Welcome! ^^

I haven't been on as much lately(my boyfriend was visiting for almost a month) so I didn't see this topic when you first posted it.

Anyway, I hope you like it here even though it's not that active.

I hope that Randall will be in the next trailer they release for the film....if he's not I'll get the feeling that he might only have a pretty minor role in the film.