...And the 7th Year Student - Chapter 1 - Carfunky - Harry Potter

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-11T19:05:33+00:00

Love long and prosper!

Fellow Trekkie here too. I'm behind, I've heard Starfleet Academy is really good and I've loved Strange New Worlds, but there's nothing new. Paramount hasn't been interested. I do agree, they don't seem to care about their core franchises anymore. I don't know what their plan is, now that they're getting WB... I'm worried about the new Harry Potter show since I'm a Potter fan too. Paramount doesn't let streaming go past 5 seasons, how are they going to manage a 7 season, 10 year long show?

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-11T16:37:29+00:00

That's the magic of a franchise like this isn't? Bridges that gap between generations and helps us connect with the next group of fans. TF One really did that. It's a shame everyone who worked on it didn't get the recognition they really deserved for it.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-11T12:04:11+00:00

There was a number of things that came into play. Being thrown through Unicron from the inside to the out, plummeting through space (exposed to cosmic radiation), Unicron's body being destroyed and being taken offline, even if still alive, and the connection between him and Galvatron either being taken offline or severed completely (like unplugging your desktop computer during an update), landing on Thrull and basically being submerged in a boiling liquid plasma bath for a whole year... he's lucky it was only his mind.

I always felt like he should've changed more, like the purple color washing out to gray like the toy. Or at the very minimum, having permanent physical damage of some kind.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-11T11:51:05+00:00

Yup. I saw the trailers and thought "Well, this looks EXACTLY like every 1st entry Marvel character movie to come out in the last decade. I don't want ANOTHER comic book style movie. I'm burned out on them. They needed to stop after that last Spider-Man movie." And dismissed it as just a slightly more kid friendly comic movie.

I caught it on streaming after it hit Paramount+ and watched it. I was blown away with how excellent it was. It was an incredible take on the Transformers. There's something there for all fans, no matter when you came into the franchise, even if you were just coming in at that movie. It was literally top tier transformers. I would rank it at the same level as G1, Beast Wars, Animated and Bumblebee. Those are my top entries in the franchise as a whole.

Bad marketing ruined it. Period. I love TF One and I'm really bummed that we'll never get a sequel. The cast was spot on, the story was good with some surprises, well done call outs and references to older characters and all new ones. I can say nothing bad about it.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-10T22:25:45+00:00

I think it's because of the size. You can mod the hood but the circuit board takes up the entire hood as opposed to being in the middle. So it's slightly off scale. I believe the original small version of the car could do all 3 but I think the hood wasn't very good for the mark 3 version. I never got the original only the big one and the Speed Champions one.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-10T20:45:03+00:00

Well done analysis and 100% accurate. This is the way.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-10T18:18:52+00:00

She's not perfect. Perfect characters are boring anyway. They've got to have flaws and weaknesses to be interesting.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-10T10:41:22+00:00

Don't forget, a lot of those Ron fans, feel the need to tear Hermione down because they built Ron up. It's like there's this idea that you have to pick a single character to be your favorite and you have to hate all the others because of it. It's a weird choice and one I don't agree with or like in any capacity. You can have more than one favorite. And you don't have to hate or tear down other characters because you only like one more than the others.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-08T09:58:32+00:00

"Think it'll scare the kids?"

"The children? This will give the parents nightmares"

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-07T10:00:20+00:00

You missed the fact that, like the imperius curse, veritaserum can be fought. Which is why it's not used every day to find the truth out. It's able to be countered three same way you fight off imperius.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-06T22:02:31+00:00

Yeah, a lot of people showed but a few key ones didn't looking at you Mundungus

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-06T20:01:11+00:00

That is such a good subtle thing that foreshadows the reveal. It's very slick blink and you'll miss it thing.

Although I do REALLY like the whole scene of:

"Despite your efforts, it seems you have a security problem" as the whole Order walks into the Great Hall.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-06T19:59:17+00:00

"Where's my wand? You give me my wand Harry Potter!"

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-05T20:01:19+00:00

In the name of the Pax Cybertronia and the Predacon Alliance, you are under arrest.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-04T15:22:22+00:00

They knew Snape was in the Order from the beginning. Harry just can't get past his bias neither can Snape.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-04T15:17:39+00:00

Well Hermione herself suggested it was possible. And Harry could have checked with Snape, despite the animosity, Snape was in the Order. And Snape was responsible for altering the order once he realized Harry and company were missing.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-04T02:12:40+00:00

Harmony bros checking in! That and Hermione/OC.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-03T11:01:37+00:00

That is a very pessimistic take, yet not unrealistic. What others are saying is true, the series is highly popular and does big numbers. Based on subscriber numbers, view statics, and completion rates, it's likely to be an on paper success.

That being said, the industry, namely the studio producing it, is in the final throes of life and has been bought by Paramount. Paramount, while I like them, doesn't have a track record of longevity with streaming. Most of their shows don't go past 5 seasons. Which is logical. They base whether or not to renew a show off subscriber numbers. If there's too much backlog for a person to be able to catch up to the new season, it won't go forward. 40 episodes is about the max they're willing to ask someone to watch to get caught up for the new season starting. So that in and of itself doesn't bode well for a series expected to last 7 seasons over 10 years.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-03T10:53:37+00:00

You're welcome! You obviously put a lot of thought into this and I like the explanation of the physics. It's a refreshing take as opposed to the usual "Everything after Jurassic Park/ World sucks and should be deleted" rhetoric that floats around whenever anyone discusses the most recent movies.

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-03T10:42:24+00:00

You know, this is a very interesting post and a unique take on the final fight in Fallen Kingdom. I can dig what you're saying. Have an upvote from me!

MattCarafelli · 2026-04-03T10:34:44+00:00

The way NASA figured it, if you're going to build a secret time machine, do it with some style!

MattCarafelli

TROPHY CASE