Welcome to part three in our series of video game weapons the world just is not ready for.  In this part we continue to explore the various weapons the video game world has produced over the years and the dire consequences if they were to cross the digital barrier and become a part of our world.  If you haven’t had the chance, you can check out the previous two entries in the series here: (Part One - Part Two).

Comin' through...

Weapon: Purple Shell
Game: Mario Kart Series
Why the World isn’t ready: Leading off the top of this list is a video game weapon that is favored by competitive racers everywhere.  The purple shell is the single most important item for anyone falling behind in a race.  If anything could change the tempo of a race in the blink of an eye; the purple shell rules all.  If it were to enter into the real world…all bets are off… Or perhaps betting forever would be changed.  No longer will skill and athleticism reign supreme as the individuals with the best timing on shell releases would rise to power.  Running or driving fast would no longer be in the best interest of the racer, and maintaining a lead would be strategically avoided.  Use it too soon or too late and you can kiss your Olympic gold medal goodbye.

Announcing...KIDSABERS

Weapon: Lightsabers
Game: Star Wars Series
Why the World isn’t ready: Though obviously originating from the silver screen, lightsabers have definitely made their presence felt in the video game world.  Everyone wanted one in the late 70′s and now that we can swing and throw them in video games, we are just that much closer to being able to swing them around in the real world.  If scientists are ever able to figure out how to derive light from crystals; we are doomed.  Backyard wrestling matches would turn into bloody fights where points are scored by how many dismembered limbs you can dodge.  And heaven help us if they make their way into a war and onto the battlefield.  Any ground force invasions would look like the Jedi onslaught at the end of Episode Two

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Gaming for all ages...

Weapon: V.A.T.S.
Game: Fallout 3
Why the World isn’t ready: Imagine if Pip-Boys were readily available.  It would put anything Apple can produce to shame; so you could say goodbye to the iTouch.  The applications that people would come up with would have this world torn apart in a matter of weeks.  On top of that, if anyone were ever able to actually invent the V.A.T.S. application for the Pip-Boy, we would be in serious trouble.  Giving people the ability to pause their surroundings and target what you wanted, when you wanted it, would make even the best behaved alter boys thinking terrible things.

'roids my a$...

Weapon: The Excalibat
Game: Rise of the Triad
Why the World isn’t ready: As a solid favorite during my childhood; this “weapon” would replace everything that is currently wrong with Major League Baseball, and totally revamp everything we know about complaining in regards to professional athletes.  Forget steroids; the commission would be dying to go back to the good old days when players were only “juicing”.  Instead of lying to grand juries about if and when they used, athletes will now be on trial for multiple homicides.  Stadiums would become death arenas, as players and fans alike suit up in full body armor, which would inevitably fail to stop the enchanted powers anyway.  Imagine an athlete coming up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with his team down by nine runs having the ability to tie it with one swing.  Imagine the skill needed to make sure all ten super charged demolition balls go out of the park instead of embedding themselves in various infielders’ faces.

Just hang on...

Weapon: Topsy Turvy Bomb
Game: Armed & Dangerous
Why the World isn’t ready: This one is dangerous.  Imagine the threat…Imagine being able to flip the whole world upside down.  No one would use it to get kittens out of trees; instead this would be used for the worst of the worst.  People, cars, baby carriages and hot dog stands would instantly be sent “down” into orbit.  Not even the handler would be safe.  A solid set of sweaty hands and you will slip right off the handle bars on the bomb and down…or up…you go.

Welcome to part two of our feature on video game weapons that the world is just simply not ready for.  If you haven’t had the chance to read part one you can check it out here. In this part we will continue to explore the wonderful world of weapons that sound amazing in digital form; but if brought into the real world, would be catastrophic.

I’m also happy to announce that at the conclusion of this feature we have included several recommendations of various reader responses to part one.  These choices were overwhelming favorites that could not go unrecognized.  So without further hesitation, let the destruction continue:

Gibs...its whats for dinner...

Weapon: Cerebral Bore
Game: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Why the World isn’t ready: While not necessarily a weapon of mass destruction, the world really isn’t ready to face the ridiculously violent and brutal nature that the Cerebral Bore brings along with it.  It is one thing to watch a homing drill bury itself in a pixilated enemy and splatter brain matter everywhere, but it is a totally different thing to actually get some of that brain matter on your clothes.  We really just can’t have that.  Once the underground gets a hold of this puppy, random acts of cerebral chunking and other blatant, though creative, misuses will definitely ensue.  On a lighter note, I’m all for seeing the Cerebral Bore in the movies though.

Pranks will never be the same.

Weapon: Portals
Game: Portal
Why the World isn’t ready: This is a “weapon” that seems harmless enough when learning to use it for the first time.  One might think it may bring many valuable benefits along with it and for the most part it would be true.  Rather than focusing on how easy travel would be, or how instantaneous matter transference would revolutionize everything we know about the limits of the world, I would rather focus on the jokers on the planet that wouldn’t be able to resist a pair of well placed portals.  The variety of pranks you could play in the bathroom alone would occupy most people’s days.  Even worse, heaven forbid some short tempered fellow gets pissed at a driver that cut them off, and uses their modified portals (for increased diameter) to send the driver’s car flying out of the side of a nearby building to the street below.  I’m sure there would even be a web-site dedicated to style points earned from the most creative uses.  The use of the phrase “Pic or it didn’t happen” would also increase as a result at least one hundred fold.

Honey, can you mow the lawn...

Weapon: Entrencher
Game: Fracture
Why the World isn’t ready: With the exception of an all out nuclear war, this one has the potential to create the most destructive force ever.  Landscapes would be altered and changed at will.  A slew of businesses would crop up specializing in terrain deformation.  People could just raise their houses up in time of flooding or prevent flooding from every occurring in the first place.  As the technology becomes more powerful, laws will arise prohibiting many areas from being deformed.  This will lead to the technology going underground and eventually getting into the wrong hands.  Once this happens, and they figure out a way to over clock this bad boy, nothing…and I mean nothing on the surface of the earth will be safe.

"NO WAY...I GOT YOU FIRST..."

Weapon: Fireball
Game: Super Mario Brothers
Why the World isn’t ready: This one has such a simple premise.  Shoot a fireball out of some orifice on your body.  Sounds kind of cool if used in a controlled environment right?  Wrong.  The problem with using this advanced technique is that there would be no control.  Someone looks at you wrong…you burn their face off.  A neighbor’s tree is coming over onto your lawn…you chuck a fireball at it and burn the tree along with their house down.  A young Drew Barrymore had nothing on what humans could come up with. Are you bored?  Go set something on fire.  Are you sad?  Go set yourself on fire.  Are you happy?  Go accidentally spit a fireball out while laughing, and then go bury your dog backyard later in the day after it had a chance to cool off.  The scariest thought of all is to imagine what people who pretend they have the power to shoot fireballs would do if they actually could shoot fireballs.  On second thought, it would make LARPing more exciting.

As Moses parted the sea...

Weapon: Hand of God
Game: Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Why the World isn’t ready: Holy hell.  No pun intended.  Every since Apogee released this classic, priests everywhere have been trying to figure out how to use this advanced power up in the real world.  If they ever figured out that all they have to do is chant the word “chojin” we would be in serious turmoil (“dipstick” may or maybe not have to be chanted first).  Church goers all over the world would think twice about passing the donation plate on without putting in at least 10% of your paycheck.  As the fear grows so does the priest’s power.  Little do they know that all you have to do to gain invincibility from the Hand of God is to become an atheist.  And don’t worry; it is easier than you think, seeing that all you have to do is shout “TOOSAD” into the heavens above.

"I wonder if it can pull chicks..."

Weapon: Gravity Gun
Game: Half Life 2
Why the World isn’t ready: Here it is folks.  This gun is widely considered to be one of the most badass guns in gaming history.  Although I would concur, it still doesn’t make it a good option to create in the real world.  Forget the pranksters.  Forget the casual construction accidents that would undoubtedly occur.  This thing would be used for evil, plain and simple.  Destruction could happen at any time and in any place.  Bolting down all heavy objects would become government law world wide.  Forget that, people would have to be bolted down.  All hell would break loose.  Even a small gang fight in a suburban area, where each side is armed with powered up Gravity Guns, would end up in the national news.  People being used as shields to protect themselves from other people being hurled at them would become common place.  What were once normal city streets would become junk yard combat zones that would put the Yoda/Dooku battle to shame.  Lets leave this where it belongs…on our screens.  It is too scary to imagine otherwise.

Reader’s Choice Weapons:

Insta-weightloss

Weapon: Morph-o-Ray
Game: Ratchet & Clank
Why we think our readers believe the world isn’t ready: Given Insomniac’s track record with creating inventive weaponry, it is hard not to see why ANY gun from these games should not be realized.  The only exception, perhaps, would be the need to get all the shy kids sidelined at high school dances onto the floor.  Alcohol isn’t “allowed” yet so other means might be necessary.

'I don't need no hole no mo'..."

Weapon: Farsight XR-20
Game: Perfect Dark
Why we think our readers believe the world isn’t ready: This weapon hitting the streets would literally mean the end to any and all safe houses.  Any one is a target, no matter where they are hiding.  Privacy would be a thing of the past.  Forget Big Brother.  Forget the New World Order.  The idea of someone watching me with the capability to kill me while I perform my daily squatting ritual is not only horrifying, it’s down right embarrassing.

"That's not a Donkey...THIS IS A DONKEY"

Weapon: Concrete Donkey
Game: Worms: Armageddon
Why we think our readers believe the world isn’t ready: I owe a big apology to the readers on this one.  In part one, I chose the Banana Bomb from Worms: Armageddon as a weapon that the real world couldn’t handle. However, after thinking about it, the thought of an 80-story tall donkey with a concrete brick attached to it’s feet landing on my head scares the banana’s out of me.  I might stand a chance if I dodge a banana chucked at my head, but there is simply no escaping rapidly descending burro.

That about wraps things up.  In the end, we should be glad these and other video game weapons are in game only.  We need to experience the creative directions our brains take us, but without the consequences.  Hopefully someday virtual reality will take us to a place where we can live our digital destruction fantasies out in greater realism, in the mean time, lets enjoy what we have.

If anyone has additional choices you think should have made the feature, please let me know!  I would have no objection opening the debate back up for revisiting.  After all, envisioning their real world counterparts is where the fun is at!

Through the years many games have had weapons that have laid us flat with “shock & awe”.  As we blast baddies with shotguns and nuclear arsenals, we sit there and mumble to ourselves, “How COOL was that!?” or “How AWESOME would that be!?”  We all think it would be a good idea to get our hands on a BFG 9000 or a Golden Gun and just wreck havoc GTA style in the real world.  However, be careful what you wish for.  Our world is simply not ready for some of these weapons to become a reality.  This two-part feature will explore some of the more unique weapons that are better off being in our TVs rather than in our actual hands…

Weapon: Shrink Ray

Game: Duke Nukem

Size matters...

Why the World isn’t ready: If shrink ray weapons were a reality, sure geeks would stand more of a chance against bullies, but such is the natural course of nature.  An actual working shrink ray would not only be the weapon of choice for the Military and Terrorists alike, it would also be the staple for any practical jokester or friend looking for retribution against a drunken forehead marker’ing.  Quite frankly, this world doesn’t need serial shrinkers.  I’ll be damned if I meet my demise from my friend’s Chihuahua after busting his chops.

Weapon: Katamari

Game: Katamari Damacy

I think my dog is in there...

Why the World isn’t ready: Imagine a substance you roll around which could continually build upon itself using only the objects in it’s environment.  This actually sounds less like a weapon and more like a breakthrough experiment gone horribly horribly wrong.  All it needs is the wrong set of hands and that person would go around and think its funny to roll over dogs and humans, eventually leveling whole skyscrapers and worlds.  It’s pretty much unfathomable at this point and for good reason, it’s the nuke-less armageddon.

Weapon: VooDoo Doll

Game: Blood

So many great things you can do with this

Why the World isn’t ready: Admittedly this sounds like a good idea at first.  Some bad driver or jerk messes with you and all you have to do is whip out your voodoo doll and stab it with the closest sharp object and…BAM…problem solved.  A quick and easy way to clean up the much of the earth, though initially sounds good, will ultimately end up being abused like all things this promising.  Imagine a scenario in which little Billy gets pissed off at his baby Sister for tattling on him.  Little Billy gets sent to his room and slams the door behind him.  *poke*…*poke*…and 5 seconds later a mother’s blood curdling scream can be heard for miles.  Good in principle…bad for the kids.

Weapon: Super Banana Bomb

Game: Worms Armageddon

It is always has the final say...

Why the World isn’t ready: Why would anyone on this great green planet of ours, want to invent this terrible terrible weapon of mass desctruction.  First off, what airport security guard is going to take your banana?  Sure it was fun going from zero to hero in game by leveling my friends with a blind and desperate Super Banana Bomb toss.  However in the real world, chucking a banana at someone and having it split off into seven nuclear potassium deliveries leaving city sized craters behind has to be against some sort of rules of fair play.  It was cheating in Worms and it is definitely cheating in the real world.

Weapon: Land Shark Gun

Game: Armed and Dangerous

Oh F#*K!

Why the World isn’t ready: Jesus.  Imagine walking down the street and you happen to pass by a kid you picked on in school 14 years ago.  You don’t turn around out of guilt but you can feel the stare piercing into your back as you walk past.  All the regret and guilt builds up to the point where you actually consider turning around and apologizing, but is short lived as it quickly fades into a searing pain as you find yourself in the damn jaws of a land shark.  Talk about a bad day.  If the Land Shark Gun made it into reality, the world would instantly be paralyzed by the same fear that Steven Speilberg reigned down upon us over thirty years ago.  Back then people were scared to go into the water after Jaws.  Now, people wouldn’t even get near the ground thus effectively rendering the Earth’s surface uninhabitable.  It would be like a full scale Tremor’s attack, only worse.

Can we count on devs to hear us?

Let me start off with, if you are anything like me you have been struggling to find a game lately that brings you in and keeps you there.  A ton of games these days are being pushed out the doors, complete or not, and it is really starting to show.  Granted, there are certain elements in video games that we have grown up with and accept, however lately it seems that many video game trends are doing more harm than good by adding to the bland and totally non-innovative game play that the whole industry is currently suffering from.

Before the video game industry can think about moving forward and making the final step to take over our lives (…I am in full support of their World Domination by the way, as long as I can still watch movies from time to time), there are a whole list of things that need to be addressed.  The industry has been getting lazy in their development and while new creativity is always welcome, there are a few nasty developer habits that we first need to take care of that are literally sucking the life from us:

Un-lockable Content
My number one example: Zombie Mode in Call of Duty: World at War.  My friends and I were so excited about picking up the game for Zombie Mode, that we all rushed through the game to unlock it, thus leaving no possibility for us to go back and play the single player mode as, I would assume, it was meant to be played.  This tactic voided what would have otherwise been a wonderfully immersive single player experience.  On a smaller level, what benefit does un-lockable vehicles and clothing for your character serve in games?  It is essentially the developer saying, “We delivered a weak product that is not re-playable, so let’s toss in some quick code to create options that a player can’t experience until their adventure is already over.”  Developers should have the mentality of “wowing” us with capability the first time through.

Downloadable Content
When you pay $60 for the full price of a new game, it should be for the whole game.  If developers deliberately leave out intended parts from the initial release, they should lower the price.  Again this is the developers saying, ““We are not going to give you the whole experience at once but rather break pieces off in an attempt to milk you for money.”  This is about as cool as you buying a new pc, and having it delivered to your home.  Upon opening it up you find that there is an offer to add on a sound card for an additional $100 and a notice that the wireless network card will be available for $50…but not until next spring.

Un-lockable Difficulties
Why?  Why force a player that wants to experience the game the way they think it is meant to be played, into running through the game quick on 5 year old mode?  All that does is ruin the “first time through” experience and discourage the player from playing again.  These difficulty locks are terrible attempts at making a game more re-playable.  And while we are on the subject of difficulties…

Non-Damage Based Difficulties
Wouldn’t it be nice and refreshing if you played a game on easy or medium and a certain plot element played out one way, and in playing it on hard would present the plot element in an extended or alternate way?  Why do most games base their difficulties solely on the basis of how many bullets you can take?  In First Person Shooters and Third Person games alike, it is always about how many baddies are thrown at you and how much of a beating you can take.  Developers need to start introducing different methods of making a game more complicated, which would in turn help solve their re-playability issues as well.  Before Duke Nukem Forever was cancelled it was rumored that it had seven (yes, seven) difficulty levels, with the hardest being “Extreme Apocalypse Friends Forever” mode.  In this mode all regular enemies were to be replaced by boss creatures, and the bosses were to be replaced by creatures that were even stronger that don’t even make an appearance in the regular game.  These are the kind of games we need to fund, not bankrupt.

Auto-Restoring Health
This totally takes the pressure off of gamers to think more before acting in games.  Remember the great old days in Doom or Quake when you escaped from a battle with less than 10% health remaining and you thought to yourself, “Oh God! I gotta be careful!”?  Remember when that happened and how you didn’t just run down the hallways and jet around corners, but instead you were crawling slowly along and peering around corners (complete with your actual head moving a little trying to get a better view)?  This is what is known as “creating tension”, guys.  We are teaching our little video gamers that it’s ok to get shot in real life because you can just hide in your locker for 10 seconds and you will be all better.  You can leave in the reviving of fallen characters, that is a cool co-op espect, just dont make it so “rinse and repeat”.  Create tension in your games that you never even planned for.

Highlighted Items and On-Screen Aids
While playing Video Games, did you ever think to yourself, “Why the hell is that ammo clip a total of 342 shades lighter than the rest of the environment; is it radioactive?” or “Why does that weapon hover above the ground or spin around in a circle?”  It is a total removal from immersion in the game.  Have the items blend in with the rest of the environment.  It would give games a little bit harder difficulty if a player has to find an item.  Heaven forbid an in-game character should have to go through the trouble of lifting a box in order to get to some food or some ammo, or even accidentally come across a rocket launcher in the corner of a dark room.  In addition, radar and maps is one thing, but any on-screen graphical enhancements that help you get to your next objective is just making our generation all the dumber.  Take for instance in Fable 2; There is a pretty glowing line that takes you from mission to mission without you ever having to think about where you are going.  Do gamers not value the art of exploration anymore, or are developers too worried that a couple people might call their game too hard?

Tacked on Co-op Modes or No Co-op Modes
What will it take for developers to realize that the best way to treat your players is to give them the ability to have full-fledged experiences with each other?  This doesn’t mean tack on some lame attempt at co-op play or even worse, disregard it altogether.  Give players the opportunity to choose whether or not they can run through the story by themselves or with a friend.  Nothing is worse than just joining in a friend’s game only to learn that you cannot take anything you earn, whether it is gold or XP or loot, with you when you go.  Adventures (read: main story lines) should be accessible to multiple players at any time.  Games should be able to handle the transitions seamlessly adjusting the loot tables and difficulty levels on the fly.  We shouldn’t have to try and force ourselves to go out and buy Army of Two 2 just so a friend and I can play a storyline together.  For a wonderful example of what we take issue with – Read Here

Repetitive Quests
How many times have you played an MMORPG and thought to yourself: “GOD, not another Fetch quest!”  Fetch quests or Kill X # of bad guy quests need to die most of all.  It shows a lack of creativity on the part of any developer.  I wouldn’t even mind a few scattered here and there but only if they actually pertain to the storyline.  For instance it makes sense that a group of bad guys came into my town and killed all the woman and children.  As the hero I would naturally go out and kill as many of them as I could.  Or perhaps I need to go fetch some medical supplies for one of the woman that did not die and was just badly injured.  However, having a whole game based around helpless individuals that are just looking for hand me outs, makes for a boring adventure and translates into a boring game for us.  MMORPG’s aside, let’s look at Assassin’s Creed.  The game is literally made up of nine different instances of the same mission.  Investigate a guy, climb some towers and pick a few pockets.  I was bored to tears 3 missions into it.  Give the players something to immerse themselves in.  If you don’t have the creative prowess in-house as a developer…there are plenty of us that have great ideas for games…utilize us.

Lack of Game Demos
Developers…listen. If you want people to buy your game, for the love of all that is digital, please release a demo for the darn thing.  We are collectively smarter than you and if you don’t, it rasies red flags with us and there had better be a good reason.  It is along the same lines as a production company not giving their movie to critics ahead of time for a preview.  We know something is up.  You are telling us that your product is not worth the money you will be asking for in return.  In addition, in this day and age, you cannot use “piracy” as a shield to hide behind (even for Hollywood).  The internet has been around forever and you guys have had plenty of time to take advantage of it.  It is not that hard, and you don’t have to show us a lot, but just trust in the fact that every game has a demographic and play towards them, not away from everyone.

A message to developers: Not all of you are guilty of course.  We understand that not only coming up with breakthrough trends is hard, but implementing them is even harder.  However, for the sake of us.  Your longtime loyal fans, please please make it fun for us again.  Don’t dumb the games down.  Don’t try to cater to all demographics.  We are your lifeblood.  Breathe some life back into us.  Pushing us away doesn’t do any of us any good.

Please stay tuned for part two.

We here at Rawcritics like to leverage our god given abilities, in this case its rifiling through celebrities trash for food juicy gossipy bits. This time while checking Michael Bay’s trash we found a veritable treasure trove of movie memorabilia, including the 1994 version action figure of Optimus Prime which actually looked like it had fecal matter on it. Anyway, the big paydirt was the flowchart on how to make blockbuster movies. We are now releasing said flowchart so that everyone may now have the knowledge of how to make millions of dollars for blowing stuff up:

It pretty simple really...

Note: This feature discusses the plot and ending of Terminator Salvation, and thus contains spoilers.

The Ideology of John Connor

Who is this man?  Since 1991, we’ve all wondered who this man is.  Is it John Connor or is it a symbol of the resistance?  As McG would have us believe, it is the actual John Connor.  However, is that what is really best for the story?  Is that the absolute best direction the Terminator franchise can head towards?  I vehemently say no.

John Connor should be an idea, not a person.  Think about it; what a perfect direction to take the Terminator series in with a twist that could have been one for the ages.  The resistance would have to realize the importance of John Connor as a figure, and how the resistance views him as a prophet.  They could have easily kept the legend alive since there would have been so few people that knew what the real John Connor looked like.  He could have lived on in spirit and been a beacon of hope for humanity regardless who was actually giving the speeches.

Argument 1 – Arnold kills John Connor

Near the end of Terminator 3, a huge plot point was revealed when Arnold told John Connor that he was the one that killed him in the future.  If that was the case, what better time than to have the CGI Arnold in T4 kill him?

Argument 2 - The Scar

The Original Scar

We all knew the scar was going to come into play at some point in the new Terminator films, however it should have been a calling card of sorts.  Who over took over the “role” of John Connor should have gotten the scar in a future film.  This would have been an amazing throwback/twist to the beginning of T2, when people realize that this man we’ve seen since 1991 as the “face” of John Connor in the future wasn’t actually the John Connor.  By having the original John Connor die without obtaining the scar would have let the mind’s wander in “what ifs?” and “how did he get it thens?”  It would have been a big reveal in the later movies when the event actually occurs.  TheConnor at the beginning of T2 was clearly in control and a leader, so in terms of timelines, it would have made perfect sense to create some mystery on how it would all come together.

Argument 3 – Radio Broadcasts

At the end of Terminator 3, John Connor first made his presence felt to the outside world.  It wasn’t in body; it wasn’t in person with face to face interactions; it was with his voice.  It was the first instance that the present world could connect the name John Connor with the idea of human survival.  Terminator 4 did a brilliant job of keeping that voice alive.   He was on the radio speaking to the pockets of resistance that had never met this man, or knew what he looked like.  They were drawn to him because of what he represented.  They were drawn to him because he was a voice of hope.  This could be an easy theme that could reoccur throughout the remaining movies.

Argument 4 – How did he live?

Let me spell it out...Girder + John Conner SHOULD = Death...

Not only did McG miss out on a golden opportunity to take the franchise in a brilliant direction, he seemingly threw it in our faces.  First John Connor survives a huge girder through the heart, but on top of it, he manages to survive a last minute heart transplant that just happened to take and be the correct blood type?  The director dropped the ball big time, and it seems like he had everything in place only to cop out at the last minute in favor of a cheesy happy ending.

Argument 5 – How did McG not see this?

Kyle Reese?!?

Everything in the movie, up until the point Sam Worthington offered up his heart, led me to believe that John Connor was going to die, but live on in legend.  The name John Connor was literally uttered dozens and dozens of times in the movie giving it a sort of god-like feel that I was hoping would lend itself to the prophet status he had garnered.  It was as if the director was building the name up to be bigger than the human form of John Connor so that it could be an ideology of sorts.  But then…he didn’t.  Another missed opportunity was letting Kyle Reese, John Connor’s father, take over the responsibility.  What a twist that would have been as well?  Imagine the paradox that would be created when Reese takes over his son’s image, before sending himself back in time to protect John’s mother so John could grow up and create the ideology for humanity’s hope, in order for him [Kyle] to have the name to continue on in the first place!!  Or alternatively, imagine the resistance being led by a terminator!!  In addition, many of the leaders of the resistance were killed off in the sub at the end of T4, so all that were left were the members that would stand behind John and his image.  This all could lend itself to a perfect scenario for a “cover-up”, which could be an interesting plot line later on when the ideology itself comes into jeopardy, thus weakening the human’s morale.

Bottom line, there are a lot of pissed off people right now that feel ripped off.  From everything I’ve been reading since the opening, fans are upset.  There were a couple good throwbacks, such as the Guns ‘n’ Roses tune which was in T2, but this is a storyline that a lot of people care about, myself included.  My only hope is that McG and crew know exactly what they are doing and have something even better planned.  If not…Judgement Day is coming…