Alyas Robin Hood and why it's not good and Julio Valiente makisig na lalake

This meme has made the rounds on Facebook and the picture says it all. This "new" TV series is a genuine rip-off of DC's "Arrow". 

I have always complained--its obvious by the way--that our local superheroes are direct copies of American superheroes. There's Darna=Wonderwoman. Gagamboy=Spiderman, Captain Barbell=Shazam, etc. 

Now, here comes Alyas Robin Hood, which from the title alone proudly flaunted it's lack of originality. 

Okay, what's my problem here?

The hero looks like Oliver Quinn and not Robin Hood. Hood is an English folk hero. His story is well known. 

Judging from the title alone, I guess the story would be, hmmm, like that of Robin Hood. Steal from rich, give to the poor, and a few garnish and spices here and there, and what you have is Robin Hood. 

Now, how do you re-tell a new-old story that would interest the viewers without the viewers realizing that what they are watching is an old-new story? Maybe give Robin Hood a few tweaks like he could be a lesbian, or a helpless and demure lady during the day and a tough WWE thief-archer at night, or he could be a tough-thief-archer at night and a gay masseur during the day. 

Instead...

Why not create a TV series about a purely Filipino fictional hero. Instead of re-inventing and re-hashing and re-heating foreign heroes, why not go local! Carlo J, Caparas' "Julio Valiente" is a good example of a local fictional hero. Of course, the secret identity thing is copied from most American and foreign fictional heroes, but at least Caparas tried to infuse Filipino in Valiente. 

The guy wears a salakot and uses a cloth-guided-heat-seeking dual bolo, which judging from the movie, is capable tracking and taking down villains at an effective range of ten meters.

Valiente's blades are made from an adamantine (wolverines claw is made from adamantine) like metal capable of splitting bullets.

I have to admit, Valiente's story line is unmistakably inspired by Zorro, but at least there's an attempt to Filipinize him.

Of all the weapons , they have opted for  the English long bow. But Filipinos do not have long bows. It is not our main weapon. In fact, historically speaking, bows were not even mentioned as weapons used by our patriots against the Spaniards and the Americans, considering that they offer more range than the itaks and the bolos which was the main weapon of the indios.

I have nothing against the English long bow and we do have our own bows but at the very least, the network or whoever is in charge of GMA's TV entertainment section should have thought of a native Filipino weapon like the bolo or arnis. 

Why not arm the hero with our own bolo, which the American soldiers found very effective in close combat. The bolo proved its worth during the Second World war when used as a close combat weapon. In fact, the Germans had the surprise of their lives when their bayonets were met by a meter long cleaver like blade. During WWII an American Negro soldier named  Henry Johnson was able to fend off and kill bayonet wielding German raiders using a Filipino bolo knife. So, if the foreigners admires our local weapons, why not use this as the weapon of choice? Like Valiente. 

Or arnis.

Anyway, TV could be used as powerful tool to promote our culture but instead of doing that, they do this.