Steve Megatron on Cartoon Watching History

Hello, fellow geeks out there. It's that time

again to listen to a podcast from the GeekCast

radio network. Hi, you're listening to Tooncast.

What's going on around here? Hello and welcome

to Tooncast. This is episode 245, I believe.

I think. I don't know. I forget. What episode

is this? Oh my god. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm

sorry folks. I just got a hit in the head with

a rock because it is the end of October Tooncast

has relaunched and As you heard in episode 240

we are doing origins here on Tooncast I have

been doing this over on the pullback for the

last eight years We've been doing this on all

things transformers since I think about 2016

and we just started it on toy cast this year

as well in 2021. I'm of course TF2 and Mike.

Joining me is Steve Megatron. Hello sir, how

are you? Hello, I'm doing good. That's good.

I was expecting something a little bit more subtle

and Shakespearean, but okay. Are we ready for

this? It's time to rumble. Yes. there you go

it's time for the top 40 countdown please don't

don't do that that that freaks me out stop it

uh today we'll be talking to steve megatron yes

except now he's talking to himself so over on

the pull bag we have 25 origins questions toy

cast has 42 all things transformers i think has

25 or 30 i forget Studio 2009 podcast approach

has 30 questions and tune cast now has 30 questions

for the origins First up. Did you grow up watching

cartoons in it? What were some of the your earliest

cartoon memories? Cartoons I grew up watching

a lot of cartoons, which is why I can do so many

voices now. Mm -hmm I mean jeez I watched so

many cartoons Not only during the week, but during

the Saturday morning cartoon blitz that I don't

even know like Some to some degree like I was

a couch potato without really being that because

on commercials I would get bored and channel

surf and find another cartoon to go watch and

sometimes I would I would flip back Immediately,

you know just to kind of see if the other one

was back or sometimes I would still till that

commercial and then I jump back I always had

the the the previous button loaded with the channel

I wanted to go to. Yeah, that was a good old

time back then. Now we just go to different streaming

services, folks. So you pretty much answered

the second question. What cartoons were you watching

most as a kid? Were you a Saturday morning consumer,

an after -school consumer, or both? Well, obviously

you were both, so I'll ask you. Which was your

favorite time to watch cartoons the weekday afternoon

stuff or the Saturday morning stuff? Oh Definitely

the Saturday morning. There was so much more

cartoons I mean I would sit there from 6 a .m.

Until 11 a .m. When they finally like tapered

off Between the four channels that were all in

a row. I mean you had CBS NBC ABC and Fox and

then once in a while I mean when UPN showed up

for a little bit they had some decent running

But for the most part, it was just those four.

I mostly watched Saturday mornings, but if I

didn't, my favorite time to watch was in the

morning. I only say that because I didn't have

homework to deal with. I was eating breakfast

cereal, and I was getting ready to go to school,

and I lived across the street from my elementary.

That was my go -to, man. I had at least an hour

and a half of TV in the morning before I got

to go. Yeah, that's the same with me All right.

What was your I already know the answer to this

question What was your number one favorite cartoon

as a kid? I Mean yes Beast Wars obviously But

but I had so many other exposures to cartoons

in the morning I had the original Transformers

was on reruns on the Sci -Fi channel in the morning,

which I somehow discovered it had this weird

sci -fi like animation block and they would they

would cycle between season one two and three

and So I was getting things so out of order But

I used to I used to watch Those but I used to

I'm trying to think of some of the shows I used

to watch in those blocks. I loved Mighty Max,

I used to watch Ninja Turtles, I used to watch

Beast Wars, G .I. Joe, G .I. Joe Extreme, everything

was extreme back then. Spider -Man, Batman the

Animated Series, at the time I would probably

say Batman the Animated Series and Beast Wars

were pretty much neck and neck for my favorite

cartoons. Are some other cartoons you like do

you have a favorite cartoon genre type I? like

typically superheroes or sci -fi like basically

anything that touches on the futuristic and things

that Honestly couldn't happen Mm -hmm or aren't

happening until someone creates them those were

the kind of shows I gravitated towards and I

still I still do to this day. Those were the

books I gravitated towards. Those were the cartoons

I gravitated towards. Anything that dealt with

either a superhero or sci -fi vibe were the things

that I instantly went to. But if it wasn't, it

was just because it was an entertaining cartoon.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. How did your cartoon

-watching habits change as you grew up and throughout

your life? Well, they decreased. For many different

reasons, I watched a lot of cartoons growing

up, and I had a very wide variety. I remember

watching, you know, like Action Man, Street Sharks,

Beetlejuice, the Dinosaucers. Just so many different

genres of cartoons like Sonic the Hedgehog, both

of them. I had so many different shows I watched.

I'm not honestly sure why I consumed as many

as I did. I think it was just because the sheer

access to cartoons on the Saturday mornings.

To some degree, they had them on Sunday mornings

too, but it only lasted for two, three hours

instead of the five, six that we had. on Saturdays

and then I had the early mornings before school

and then after school that I was watching. So

I watched a crazy amount of television as a kid

and it got somewhat worse being that I watched

more like hour long shows as a teenager and as

an adult. And then especially when we started

the network, I still watched 30 to 40 shows a

week, which was insane. I think I've whittled

it down. Like I've got maybe 10, maybe 12 that

I watch at any given time where I wait and I

blitz them at this point just because I don't

want to deal with trying to play the week to

week game. Yes. But yeah, I mean, I for the most

part I want I'm very selective in my cartoons

now. They have to have had some kind of a tie

to my childhood. From some form of nostalgia

that that bring me back to watch a newer rendition

of it now Otherwise, I give zero craps about

jumping into anything new So yeah, I definitely

watch a lot a lot less now and I watch a lot

of the things I grew up with a lot more than

I do new programming So for the ones you do rewatch,

how often do you go back and do that? depends

on the show but Especially if I have them at

ready access to watch. There's a number of old

shows between G .I. Joe, Transformers, Beast

Wars, Batman The Imminted Series, any of the

BTAS DCAU movies. And then I watch a lot of live

action stuff now too. My animation is pretty

selective and I have to be in the mood to watch

whatever it is. I have Mighty Max I have the

original Ninja Turtles in the 2003 and then parts

of the 2012 and I just It really depends but

Beast Wars is pretty much my main go -to like

I could watch that every day and not get tired

of it So out of all of those which ones held

up the best and or worst. I still argue that

the number one animated series still lies with

Batman the animated series. I still don't think

we've gotten anything really good as far as the

Batman stuff, but I still think as far as our

top 100 is concerned, and I think Beast Wars

was in the top 25. I don't remember. I want to

say it was like number 23 or something. I don't

know. It left a scar on me. It's I'm sure it's

somewhere in there in the top 25 But yeah, I

I still argue a lot of these shows deserve to

be where they landed Yes, there are newer shows

that are out now. There are some other ones like

the bad batch or I Want to say there's another

animated series I'm watching but I can't remember

any of them right now. I watched You know some

of the newer transformer stuff, but yeah, I mean

I think a lot of the old stuff does hold up But

it depends on what it is There's some shows i've

gone back and watched and I I fall asleep during

them or I just don't care And so what i've done

is essentially like I found where I can find

in one episode the one episode I can remember

from a childhood time and I honestly go and rewatch

that selective episode when I want a taste of

the show because that gives me that that look

that that time that I'm really excited for and

I Don't have to feel necessarily guilty about

it right and And the benefit of that is is it

holds up in my mind because it's the one episode

that I remember But other shows honestly animation

issues aside or story issues aside I I still

think Batman the animated series and Beast Wars

hold up the most out of all the shows that I've

watched Beast Machines holds up I think a lot

better now and I think it gets a lot better reputation

and love for it being that we've had such crappy

series in the last eight years of Transformers

and I think that that has a lot to do with why

people are like, you know It's not honestly that

bad when you look at the stuff we've been given

recently It at least had a solid implementation

even though it neutered some of the characters

But it they at least kept the actors to play

the same characters. Yes, that's true. So yeah,

I Will say one thing. Yes Beast Wars was number

23 on the top 100 animated series Oh man, I was

so right and I just was pulling that out of top

of my head. Uh -huh. It was what? Ten years ago?

Yeah something like yeah, 2011 is when we first

did that top 100 countdown. Boom! Two for two.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it's so funny with

the Transformers cartoons like I don't go back

and watch those all the time. Specifically G1

because hello my podcasting quote -unquote career

started with G1 because the TFG1 podcast but

Because we concluded last month in September

our top 100 Transformers characters countdown

I had gone through Most of if not every single

series that I could find except for the Unicron

trilogy unless I needed a character from that

trilogy I refuse Luckily, I didn't need many

characters from that. But I had gone through

G1 again, and I had gone through and grabbed

a bunch of audio, and I was like, hmm. Yeah,

G1 now is like, I will watch my favorite episode

kind of thing. And from G1 to Beast Machines,

G1 was individual stories. Sometimes there were

two -parters or multi -parter things, like Ultimate

Doom or whatever, Keta Vector Sigma. But by the

time we got to Beast Machines, Beast Machines

was a solid narrative 26 episodes, and I loved

that so much about that as far as the storytelling

goes. So let's cut through the signal, Lloyd,

shall we? All right. Which cartoons that have

aired while you were an adult have you liked

the most? They've aired since I've been an adult.

I would say the TMNT 2012 series. I really enjoyed

that. That was one that I really enjoyed. I've

enjoyed The Bad Batch. I've enjoyed Star Wars

Rebels. I've enjoyed trying to think of some

other shows that I've watched for cartoons. I'm

sure there's been some others. I just can't pull

them off top of my head, I think, because these

are the most recent that I've watched. Yeah,

and I've watched some other Batman stuff, but

honestly, a lot of the new movies just don't

grab me the way the DCAU stuff did. And again,

and no offense to the DC Animated Universe films,

they are, most of the time, they are directly

trying to adapt comics. The BTIS stuff and the

DCAU stuff was their own universe. It was them

telling stories. And sometimes, like in Justice

League, they would adapt things like... For the

man who has everything and that kind of thing

was Superman, but you know, it was generally

original content Are there any cartoons you hate

or have been greatly disappointed by? I've disliked

some of the newer like I dislike the newer TMNT

series. I dislike the the new I dislike the Machinima

Transformers series or the 2012 Transformers

series, or most of the War for Cybertron series.

The sad thing is I really enjoyed Cyberverse,

which is strange. Hey, when we were talking about

that on all things Transformers in those episodes,

I said that there and I'll say it here. Transformers

Cyberverse is a Transformers cartoon for every

single fan. It has everything and I think it

did everything right. I honestly really enjoyed

cyber verse by comparison and it's. It's it's

very coherent despite. I think it got better

with season two and three. Yeah, in all honesty,

season one, I really wasn't. I didn't really

care. But once once we got into season three

or two and three. I was pretty much sold. But

yeah, I don't know I I'm finding that a lot of

Animation like the styles themselves. Just don't

do it for me. Mm -hmm I can't stand that Cal

art style stuff Yeah now I will I will say one

there is one series that that kind of falls in

that that I do enjoy and The the One that I do

enjoy is Star Trek Lower Decks. It's done by

the guy that does Rick and Morty, which I absolutely

don't care about that show, but what I like about

this is that it's not only Star Trek, it's got

the comedy aspect, but it also pulls continuity.

So I don't feel like I'm getting something that's

not consistent with the continuity. Because that's

that's another thing that drives me nuts is when

it shows like oh, we're a part of continuity,

but we're not I know right. Oh wait. We got a

show like that recently wasn't it Hey, stop it

it. I actually enjoyed it though. That's the

sad thing so I know some people that are like

purists You know have a problem with it. I did

not But that's I'm very loosely based on it so

I can kind of see I can kind of see why some

people are like absolutely mad about Kingdom

and some aren't. But yeah, I'm getting way off

on topic here. Growing up, did you and your friends

ever pretend to be the cartoon characters you

saw on TV at, say, school recess or something

like that? I did play Cobra Commander on more

than one occasion where I was able to pull on

the You know mentality and kind of play into

Chris Lata You know and just have fun with it.

So yeah, I I had fun doing that a lot most of

time I played pretend with Star Trek, but I Did

some some transformers type stuff mostly with

Star Trek, but I also like I said, I did Cobra

commander Just because it was fun. This doesn't

really count as childhood, but in my acting class,

I played Casey Kasem in my acting class, which

freaked people out. Yeah, it freaks me out every

time you do it. Don't do it. Yeah, because by

then he'd been dead. Exactly. At least I didn't

put him through the turmoil that his family did.

That was kind of crappy of them, but anyways,

so yeah the The the other one that I played was

the Joker Mark Hamill Mm -hmm. I played that

with like bone -chilling accuracy and people

were just like What what did this guy just do?

Mm -hmm. Yeah, so Yeah, it was it was a little

crazy Pulling that one off. But yeah, people

were even the teacher was like, okay, that's

really good They'll put the actions with it and

I'm like, oh so you want the crazy face and then

the arm movements, you know, just you know be

around like Mark Hamill does in the booth. So

Yeah, that was that was fun awesome Who is your

end -all be -all favorite cartoon character from

any cartoon hero and villain? Hero and villain,

okay I would obviously say for my villain. It's

Beast Wars Megatron. I'm already writing it down

because I already know. Yes, you know Are you

writing this down? Is it a quiz? Am I gonna get

quizzed later? No, is this gonna go on the website

as a Q &A? No, it's from when I make you do all

kinds of art stuff. Hero, obviously I like the

Joker too because I fall back on that one quite

often. Hero, hero, hero, hero. I made Rat Trap's

one of my favorite heroes as far as that's concerned,

so it's Optimus Primal, but I don't know if I

would put him as my favorite. My favorite hero

would probably be out of animation. I don't know,

I liked Ninja Turtles too as a kid. I liked Krang

as a villain side anyway, but I was always like

a Leonardo, Raphael fan, Optimus Prime fan, Ironhide.

I don't know, like I don't know who I would pick

as my favorite hero. I would probably go with

like optimal optimist just because I love the

design. Guys, check out Big Bot. Big Bot, how

do you feel? In a word, cry. Not for long. No.

This has been but a temporary delay. And it's

easy for me to pull that one. I did before I

went by the moniker of Megatron. I went by Optimus

Primal. And then I had this pivotal moment where

I flipped. Like, I always liked Megatron, but

there was this moment where I just there was

no going back. Yeah. Yep. What are some other

cartoon characters you like and are there any

that you hate? Well, I like I like Sonic the

Hedgehog, but he's kind of a video game character

so that's kind of a cop -out I I mean, I kind

of named some just a few minutes ago, but yeah,

yeah Yeah, I I had There were some in like Dino

Saucers, can't remember the names of any of them,

but I remember there was a few I liked on that.

There was Mighty Max, always loved that show.

Wish I could do a Tim Curry. Everyone wishes

they could do a Tim Curry. Yeah. Speaking of

Tim Curry, who are some of your favorite cartoon

voices and voice actors? Voice actors would definitely

be David Kay, Mark Hamill, Rob Paulson. I can

name these a lot faster because they play multiple

characters. Gary Chalk, Ian James Corlett, Scott

McNeil, Richard Newman, because he's played villains

and a lot of superhero stuff. Specifically, he

was in Spider -Man Unlimited. Kevin Conroy. Trying

to take you some others. I think Josh Keaton

He's played he's played a number of characters

that I've enjoyed Most recently. I think he played

Captain America on the what -if He played skinny

Steve Rogers. Yes Which in my opinion if you

didn't know he did it It would be just like Chris

Evans. It would just be like him. Yes. Yeah Josh

did a good job on that. Yeah Absolutely Did you

did you or do you own anything based on a cartoon

toys comics coloring books, etc? Did I or do

I both? When I was a kid I had Batman backpacks

Pretty consistently And I Mean I had I had all

of the Ninja Turtles toys all the BTAS toys as

a kid It was quite ridiculous, to be honest.

I don't know why my parents indulged me in that

and were as nice as they were. I was a spoiled

brat. I had I had I had Star Trek toys. Yeah,

so I mean. Yeah, I was very fortunate as a kid

and then I had a ton of Transformers, ton of

Beast Wars. But yeah. Now I'm I'm just pretty

much I have a few Hot Wheel cars like I mean

that collection slowly growing. I've been buying

trucks and then I've got a few Star Trek ships.

I've got a growing collection of Beast Wars between

Kingdom and Beast Wars because I'm mostly just

trying to collect the the best versions of the

characters or be as show accurate as possible.

At least in their design. I will paint them And

I've done that yes more than one occasion. I'm

just waiting on some select figures like Tigatron

and pterosaur which are supposed to come out

this year and ravage from Beast Wars and then

next year we're supposed to get tarantulas a

beast inferno and a new new Transmetal Dragon

Megatron, which I'm holding out hope that we

get a brand new build of the standard Transmetal

Megatron because, one, it's so much cheaper if

I wait for Hasbro to actually come out with it,

even if they cop out on some of the paint, but

they also fit in my cabinet, whereas I have hires

for more someone, despite the fact it's a beautiful

figure. Freaking huge. Yes. Yes it is those those

ultra class figures back in the day, man Oh,

I know 20 bucks at the store. Now. They're like

60 Mm -hmm 70 like I mean you look at they at

or or they they they cheat and they put them

in a bigger box It's the same thing. Oh, you're

you're getting this special toy and it's like

20 bucks more because of the fact that Or like

the the core class figures. They're actually

a centimeter shorter than the basic figures from

25 years ago Yeah. I have iguanas still from

a kid and only because my brother held onto it

for me for all these years. He gave it back to

me recently and I put him next to the Core Class

Megatron from the War for Cybertron Kingdom and

smaller. Oh, Jesus. And the plastic is more durable

than the new stuff. Which is surprising to me.

Yeah. Thicker. And they have less empty slots

on them, like less empty holes that are put on

them because they're trying to cut plastic costs

now. So, yeah, I very much enjoyed some of the

toys now. I just I get them because I like them.

At first it started out as I got them because

of the voice. Mm hmm. Yep. And now you get them

cuz you like them. All right number 15. What

is your favorite cartoon theme song? That's kind

of tough because I I like quite a few of them

And it's not even it's not even like I obviously

like Beast Wars But I like the all of the I like

season two and three of Transformers I like the

original Ninja Turtles theme song, but I love

the 2012. Just because it's just, I don't know,

it's just so much more fun, I guess. I don't

know what it is with it. I just, I really enjoy

it. But yeah, I would say some of those are some

of my absolute favorites theme songs from cartoons.

Very cool, very cool. How big is your animation,

DVD, or digital collection? Are there any series

that you own the complete set of? I have every

series of Transformers. outside of Zone and Beast

Wars 2 and Beast Wars Neo. Wasn't Zone just a

movie? That wasn't an actual series. It's still

part of Transformers. No, no, no. I'm not saying

it's not. I'm just saying every time anyone mentions

Transformers Zone to me, I did some research

on it recently. I'm like, it's just a movie.

It's not like it's a 65 episode series. Mean

not to take away from it doesn't take away from

what it is. I'm just like wait a minute You've

pretty much already answered this question since

we've been talking so long at this already but

which cartoon or cartoons Had the biggest impact

on your life Beast Wars and Batman the animated

series. Mm -hmm. Those those two were like mine

Mean I would say I would argue, you know Beast

Wars and then Transformers and then Batman animated

series because we've kind of covered all of those

bases Yeah since being a part of this network

What was the most money you spent on a cartoon

item ever examples of this could be a DVD set

a cell print that kind of thing So not toy not

toy. No The most I spent on something was probably

the cost of a DVD set because I've never I've

never bought cells Okay, just never was something

I I I love graphics I love Pictures of things

I just I don't I don't care to get the cells

honestly, like it's just not one of those things

that Gets me out of bed in the morning I I do

however I have gotten autographed posters from

people and those are a little bit different.

I've spent as much as I think a hundo on getting

to meet Walker. Know you don't but we always

have to ask this question because I throw it

in I throw it in every origins episode or every

origins version on any of any of the shows now

because Originally it started out. Do you have

a parent? Do you have a my parents got rid of

my toys story? Do you have a my parents wouldn't

let me watch that cartoon story? My mom wouldn't

let me watch Simpsons. My dad did So when they

got divorced, I watched The Simpsons and I watched

South Park and I watched Celebrity Deathmatch,

which nowadays would never make it to air because

they would they wouldn't kill each other with

objects. They would kill each other with their

feelings. No, what I was going to say was, I

mean, MTV is too busy being 16 and pregnant to

run claymation now. So they don't even do that.

I haven't watched MTV in 20 years, so I don't

know. What is your opinion? Oh boy. I can't wait

for this one because I think I know the answer

to this. What is your opinion on cartoon reboots

and which ones do you think have been the most

successful? Cartoon reboots, cartoon reboots.

Hmm I Am okay with them. I mean because most

of the time it's them trying to reinvent but

it depends on how they do it and I say that because

I I personally like I don't like huge deviations

in animation or style or Characteristics or the

the voicing I can tolerate it when It's a totally

different rendition, but if they're trying to

touch on something from the past and make it

look as close as possible, but it's not even

hitting all those notes. And some of the war

for Cybertron or the newest rendition of Ninja

Turtles or the fact that G .I. Joe can't ever

come back to life. except in really, really poor

films. It's interesting to me that it can survive

that. It just doesn't make sense. Yeah. I know

IDW is doing a lot of really good things with

the G .I. Joe comics and stuff, at least I think

they are. But that's because they hired all the

guys that have been writing for it for decades.

Well, true. That looks a huge difference. Yeah,

absolutely. I think that the problem is that

you get, in a lot of cases, people that just

don't know anything about said franchise that

they're taking over. It's that and it's also

depending on what companies they work for or

what companies hire them to do the job and what

budget the companies give them and what the overall

parent company that holds the IP says that they

want or they don't want in the series. So I don't

necessarily blame the people making the show

because they tried. Yeah, I don't know. I don't

know All right, which cartoon series from the

past would you most want to see quote -unquote?

More of whether it be a reboot a live -action

movie or any other form of media I would love

to see more Beast Wars but continued with the

original creators that are still among us and

the original actors that are still among us and

basically pretending that these machines never

happened or that you get the time in between.

So maybe not totally focusing on some of them

or having some of them come back in the interim.

It would just be interesting to see that time

between how it plays out. But also I would love

to see more Beth in the animated series with

the original actors. I think that that would

be really fun. I know we've gotten some movies

with them in it, but I really would enjoy the

fact seeing them reprise their roles for another

couple seasons. I know some of them are getting

up there in age and some of them are trying to

retire in some capacity of certain roles. Yeah,

you mentioned seeing more of Beast Wars with

the original people that were working on the

show whether that be the voice actors or the

the writers and that kind of thing and So was

it 2010? Yeah, Larry in 2010. Yes. I recently

listened to our old interview with Larry de Tileo

Larry de Tileo passed away a couple of years

ago and Christy Marks, who we've also interviewed

multiple times. I first saw the news from her

on her Facebook page that he passed away. I literally

had to stop what I was doing and lean on my stove

in the kitchen at the time because I nearly fell

over. And then listening back to the interview

recently, I'm like, oh my God, I got to stop

listening to this. I just can't deal with it.

That man is so missed. I know. Well, he had been

a part of so many different series. I'd love

to get Bob forward on yeah, whatever happened

to Bob. I don't even like I don't know if he

has an online president presence He does he has

a website everything, but I yeah, I just don't

know how accessible he is yeah And you know some

people don't want to be accessible and that's

fine. That's look at me You know, 13 years ago,

when we started all this podcasting stuff, I'm

like, I just want to podcast with the people

that I'm podcasting with. I don't want to expand.

I don't want to this. And here I am 13 years

later, I'll interview anybody that wants to talk

about cartoons. Anyway, what is your opinion

of the cartoon sidekick? Stuff like Snarf, Orko,

Megatron's rubber ducky. I would take Megatron's

rubber ducky over them because honestly, I couldn't

stand half of the sidekicks. It just bothered

me. Some more than others, but yeah, I just,

I don't enjoy a lot of the sidekicks. Understand

why there are cartoon sidekicks because you have

to have like okay take spike and bumblebee and

I know but spike is not a sidekick bumblebee

is not a sidekick either main characters, but

You know you take that relationship where you

need to find something to have Appeal to the

kids kind of thing and it also goes in at least

to me It also goes into like you take Batman

and Robin Robin is the sidekick Always feel like

Batman is the legend You'll never look like same

thing with Optimus Prime Optimus Prime is the

legend you'll never live up to him or his hot

rod at least that's Doable at least you can live

up to and live and learn from his mistakes Same

thing with Robin you can you know identify with

with that character kind of thing, but there

you're right. There are some Yeah, there are

some cartoon sidekick characters that are In

your opinion, which decade represents the golden

era of cartoons and why? 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s,

90s, 2000s, or 2010s? 90s. We got some of the

best freaking writing and animated series under

the sun. Now, early 90s, I will preface with

We had some disasters or attempted revivals that

just didn't take. But we also got, in the mid

-90s, between animated series and between animated

films, we started getting the CGI boom. We got

Toy Story, we got our Pixar, we got Beast Wars,

we got War Planets, we got Reboot. And, you know,

Action Man, just some of those alone were some

of the things that I just I was just gravitating

towards because I couldn't get enough of it.

I couldn't get enough of the CGI animated stuff,

which is sad because now I'm like everything

CGI animated or it's this like cell shaded animated

stuff that CGI or if it's not that it's the Cal

Art stuff. And I would just love to get some

of that old stuff back. Yeah. Say what you will

about some of the series and the CGI from the

90s. Yeah, they didn't have as much detail as

they have now, but the problem is the stuff now

just has crappy writing. You look at Beast Wars

and Beast Machines specifically, and yes, folks,

I know we've kind of turned this into an all

things Transformers episode, or an episode of

Legends of the Dark Knight. I can't help it.

No, no, it's who you are. No, I know. It's fine.

When Kevin eventually does my episode, if he

hasn't already done it, I don't remember, you

know, I'm going to be all about the 80s stuff.

So don't get, you know, that's what she grew

up with. That's, you know, there's no judgments.

But it's one of those things where. Beast wars

and beast machines. To this day, are there problems?

Yes. Are there a few animation glitches? Yes.

At least they don't have a blue Optimus Prime

like G1 did or whatever, but I still think Beast

Wars and Beast Machines, they changed the style

in Beast Machines just a little bit. It's still

3D animation. It's still computer generated animation.

It just went a totally different direction aesthetically,

which I think is partially what damaged it. And

then the other part of what damaged it is the

fact that they had Primal and in Cheetor have

this giant kind of blowout and have this like

pseudo Religious moment. Yeah, which I think

is what the blowback is mostly from Beast Machines.

Yeah Yeah, some people view cartoons as something

for quote -unquote Children and don't view animation

as a serious form of media that adults should

consume Who should cartoons be made for, in your

opinion? Anybody who wants to enjoy them. I mean,

honestly, I mean, there's there's shows that

are made more for the for for the adult. There's

some that's made for the kids that grew up with

it and now are living with the modern day version

of whatever it may be. And then there's the kids

that are getting into it now. And everybody has

their Their their version of something that they

enjoy But I think that pretty much anybody that

enjoys stuff I mean should be able to just have

something that they enjoy. I I still go back

and watch old stuff My kids are you know, I mean

I'm very selective on what they watch Like I

don't let them watch a lot of the new stuff unless

I've screened it and I've cleared it but There's

some stuff I don't care to ever show them, and

there's some stuff that I am perfectly fine with

them seeing, and a lot of it is based in my nostalgia,

and I have them screen it. What do you think

about this? And then see what they say. Absolutely.

All right, folks. So as I said at the beginning

of this, Optimus Solo came up with a lot of these

questions because I needed help. in coming up

with 30 questions about cartoons. So 25 through

28 are basically the Tooncast fantasy world kind

of questions. You might say we're living in a

cool world or something. So just take these with

a grain of salt and have fun with them. 25, if

you could own any vehicle featured in a cartoon,

which would it be and why? Any vehicle featured

in a cartoon. Do ships matter As long as it's

animated it doesn't matter I would love to have

the axel on I've just always I've always liked

I've always liked the ship. I've always liked

the design. I've always liked like the layout

of The the vessel it's just everything about

it is is just Interesting to me like that's why

when I saw somebody that managed to create you

know 3d printed versions of all of the stuff

in the ship I mean they've even got the elevators

now I'm like I'm like why do you people make

this stuff because like I can't afford it I would

love to have it I would love to build the axel

on on the top of my desk with all of that stuff

and set up my figures I would have to spend like

a thousand dollars just to get the crap that's

up there. I would actually spend like fifteen

hundred based on what's there. I mean, they have

because you have to have like three or four of

the consoles like I could build the season three

scene. Yep. Next to the Ark. I mean, I could

buy the Ark and have it, you know, park next

to it. I mean, it would just be. I don't know.

It's just I I've always just enjoyed. That, yeah,

absolutely. If you could live in any cartoon

world that you wanted, where would you live?

Cartoon world? Cartoon world... Probably the...

Probably the world of like the original Transformers

because I don't know if I'd want to be in a world

where the Joker exists or in in a world where

Where the Ninja Turtles exist because I don't

want to get hit with ooze and turn into some

freak of nature. So I definitely don't think

I would want that to happen. So Yeah, no, that

would not be good Who would be your top three

toon pals to join you and become a quartet? Ironhide

Mm -hmm because he's like your Raphael type character.

Mm -hmm Probably Batman Mm -hmm Because he's

he's more you're like Leonardo ish type role

I'm equating these all Ninja Turtles because

it makes it simpler to figure it out. Yep. And

I'm kind of torn because I want to choose a Ninja

Turtle just for choosing these. But because I

have I have the sneaky guy, I have the I have

the brawn. And I almost feel like I should have

the guy that's like good with gadgets and good

with like gear and stuff. So Donnie, so I would

say that but I really like rat trap. Hmm. There

you go So he's sneaky, but but he's sarcastic

and I feel like I could have a lot of fun with

that sarcasm And the fact that he can build stuff

if the need arises Mm -hmm, but he just likes

to cause problems if you know if nothing else

so in a sense, he's kind of like You know Donnie

and Mikey like put together. Yeah, pretty much

Alright folks, I want to remind everybody this

is Fantasy World. If you could date any cartoon

character, which one would it be? If I could

be any who? If you could date any cartoon character,

which would it be? Well, that's just wrong. Hey,

blame Optimus Solo. He came up with these questions.

Being that I can't remember any but April O 'Neil.

I'm gonna have to go with that. There you go.

What is the holy grail of cartoon artifacts?

The Sword of Omens, the Matrix of Leadership,

the Power Sword from He -Man. What is your opinion

of what should be the holy grail of cartoon artifacts?

Do I have to pick one? I guess, yeah. It doesn't

say pick one, but... I mean, I like the power

sword from He -Man, but I also like the the Matrix

because you have all of the past leadership.

But if you're a human, it does you no good. But

the power sword is pretty good, too. You could

you could have the cap from Mighty Max and go

back in time. Or to the future. There you go.

So you could time travel. What is one piece of

advice you'd give the cartoon fandom in general?

Just find something you enjoy. I mean, yeah,

it's okay to be analytical on cartoons, but don't

ruin it for somebody else just because you hate

something. Yeah, I mean it's it's fine to tell

your opinion but don't like don't have a personal

attack on the the creators of the writers or

the yeah, you know the people involved it's it's

Yeah, I yeah, don't just don't be a jerk, you

know Just just enjoy it for what it is If you

hate it, you know state as much but don't don't

make it a personal attack Because when it all

boils down to it a lot of times it's the one

right in the check that screwed it up in the

first place Looking at you Hasbro, Paramount,

LucasFilms. Lord. Just saying. Uh -huh. Netflix,

Rooster Teeth. Oh wait, I'm getting very specific

now. Yes, yes you are. Stop it. All right, folks,

that's going to do it for us. And if you would

like to be on the Origins episodes here at Tooncast,

send an email to feedback at geekcastradio .com

with the subject line, Tooncast Origins Guest

Spot. You must have at least one year or more

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be on either Skype or Zencaster. Hello, geeks.

Want a podcast that covers a vast array of topics

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Network. Kid? Yes? Shut up. Beyond the Night

is the GCRN's latest review podcast. We are covering

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From the classic 80s TV series to the 1991 reunion

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the Night only on GeekCast Radio Network. You

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talking toys once more here on the GeekCast Radio

Network's Toy and Action Figure podcast. From

breaking into the display case to our toy topic

talk and the brand new origins in toy collections

where we get guests to tell us. their toy story

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listening to Toycast. The Powers of Grayskull

series has covered every episode of all of the

Masters of the Universe cartoons, except for

two. Join Optimus Solo and TFG and Mike as they

tell tales of Eternia, discover the myths of

Etheria, become Masters in space, evolve into

the Masters of Grayskull, and finally reveal

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got into or out of watching the Masters of the

Universe cartoons. Do you like retro cartoons?

Then Saturday Morning Rewind is the podcast for

you! Join them each month as they talk about

classic cartoons and interview legendary voice

actors like Jim Cummings Corey Burton Rob Paulson

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of Lucky Charms Put on your hammer pants. Go

to SaturdayMorningRewind .com and be prepared

to feel like a kid again. Once again, that's

SaturdayMorningRewind .com. Saturday Morning

Rewind was voted best podcast ever by its host,

Tim Nydel. So it's gotta be good. This is Kevin

Conroy. Alright Toonsters, as always, we want

to thank you for joining us here on Tooncast.

If you'd like to get in contact with us or leave

feedback for the show, there are several ways

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well. We hope you enjoyed this episode of ToonCash,

which you'll join us next time when we will be

giving you our thoughts on something. I don't

know what the heck it is, because I didn't write

it down. For now, I am TFQ and Mike with Steve

Megatron Phillips. Thank you for listening. Until

next time. Oh, and unleash the Toon in you. And

there seems to be no sign of intelligent life

anywhere. Hello? Oh, yeah! Whoa! Whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa! Did I frighten you? Didn't

mean to. Sorry, howdy. My name is Woody, and

this is Andy's room. Hey, T -Bone, how's it going

up there? Razor! Mission accomplished. Beyond

good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest imagination.