Mike Irizarry on Cartoon Origins

Hi, this is Loren Lester and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. And knowing is

half the battle. You are tuned into aftertunes

here on Tooncast. Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond

your wildest imagination. Hello and welcome to

Tooncast. This is episode 291. We're on the road

to 300 and we are continuing on with the Tooncast

origins here on the GeekCast Radio Network. I

am, of course, TF2 and Mike, and this time around,

I have a beachhead with me. He is the leader,

question mark, of what's on JoWine now. I don't

know. I haven't kept up, but it is Mike Irizarry.

Did I say your name right? I never know. You

got it. Dead on, man. Dead on. Awesome, awesome.

Very cool. I guess, technically, I am the leader.

I am the last one standing from the classic lineup.

Oh, man. I guess it's got to be me at this point.

Wow, really? You're the only original? Wow, that's

crazy. And for the record, I'm not even one of

the originals. All right. Well, okay. But yes.

But as far as from from our heyday. Yes. Our

time of peak popularity. I'm the last one. Yes.

Wow. That's that's crazy. Crazy, crazy times.

I guess it's been a couple of years now. So Okay.

Well, the last time we talked was in 2014 when

you did your comic origins over on the pullback.

I forgot we already did. That was 2014. Yeah,

it was 2014. It's been a while. I was thinking

of that. I mean, I knew it would have been a

little while, but I was thinking like three,

four years ago. No. Eight, nine. Almost a decade.

Wow. Almost a decade. I'm sorry. We'll have to

come in and do one of those again. Yep, yeah,

we reformatted in 2020. We, uh, I added more

questions and I'm thinking about reorganizing

it and refor - We added up to i think we had

twenty questions and originally we then went

to twenty five when i reformatted it in twenty

two and still the same type of how did you get

into comics dc or marvel blah blah blah it's

the same stuff is just i added a few more character

things and i'm still thinking of toying with

that format. for a while, but I've expanded that

into all the other podcasts for various things,

and this is the cartoon one. So yay, everybody

likes cartoons, right? Right. Well, I mean, at

least 291 episodes worth, sure. Yeah. It's working

for you pretty well. I guess so. I guess so.

So I always have to preface this because why

would I have somebody on here that didn't? But

this is basically a gimme answer. Did you grow

up watching cartoons and what were some of your

earliest cartoon memories? Oh, my God. Did I

have I stopped watching cartoons? Yeah, that's

like I roll through my 40s. No, no, I haven't.

I tell you, it was very much a family affair.

My earliest memories of watching animation. We

were watching Looney Tunes with my dad on Saturday

mornings. He is a to this day, a classic road

runner fan. Like you can you can distract him

with a good Roadrunner or or foghorn leg horn

or like those are his favorites Right just some

some loudmouth southerner getting his is constant

come up and makes my dad laugh but but yeah That's

really the roots of it all. That's the earliest

one I can remember and and You know, he's he's

always had a soft spot for it too. So that always

helped that he was even as we moved into the

stuff that was more, you know, relevant for us

and not so much for him, he would still, you

know, he would still, and my mom too, they would

still kind of check it out just to see what we

were into. And then they'd also allow themselves

the ability to enjoy it. So it was always kind

of a family thing going back to the earliest

days. Very cool, very cool. And the funny thing

is about Looney Tunes is in the 80s, 70s, 80s,

90s, Well, by the 90s, we knew. But in the 80s,

as young kids, we thought, hey, this is brand

new for us. This is awesome. Not realizing they

were made anywhere from 1927 to 1967 at the time.

So I guess it falls under the category of anything

you haven't seen is new to you. Well, yeah, obviously.

Yeah. But I know for my mom, especially my mom

was always She was a big time film buff. She

loved old movies and old TV. When she was watching

shows with us, she would tell us the movie that

she saw that cartoon with when she was a kid

and things like that. We always had an idea that

these were the things that came before us. It

was always cool that we were watching this thing

that was 20 and 30 and 40 years older than we

were. on the TV and sharing that with the generation

that came before us. So we had a sense of it,

I think. Yeah, that's very cool, very cool. So

what cartoons were you watching most as a kid?

Were you a Saturday morning consumer after school

or both? I would say both. I'd say more so on

Saturday, on weekdays rather. Once GI Joe hit

the weekdays, that was it for me. I didn't care

about any of the other ones. I never got into

He -Man. I never got into Thundercats. Transformers

was okay, but I don't think the quality was as

good for that as it was for GI Joe. My heart.

Ow. Sorry. Sorry. It's not that I don't love

those characters, man. Just from an animation

standpoint, there's a lot more weird episodes

and errors and things like that in Transformers

than there was in G .I. Joe. Blue Optimus Prime.

Blue Optimus. Sideswap hanging around Decepticon

headquarters. Dead Braun in a firefight in Season

3. It's all over the place. Wrong again, you

dipstick tape deck! Every so often, something

would catch my eye on weekdays. I remember I

enjoyed Mask when it was on. As I got a little

older, I would find myself needing to fill that

niche again, and I would watch Cops. Real Ghostbusters

was a favorite. I'm actually re -watching that

now. I'm getting close to the end of it, and

it's the first time I've seen those since I was

a kid, and I'm kind of surprised how well most

of them hold up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's, you know, it's, and I always say,

and I say this in every podcast and the listeners

are probably tired of me saying this, but it's

true. None of these things were meant to hold

up. They were made in the time that they were

made in. So that's how I look at them. Like,

gee, everything you've already listed is like,

those are eighties cartoons. You can't. put them

into today's standards, because who the hell

knows what Cobra Commander might say as Starscream

to Matt Tracker. You know, you just never know

kind of thing. Right. It's never going to be

a perfect fit. That that fits going to get worse

and worse as time goes on. But I think the I

think the good ones. Do find a way to at least

be applicable to what's going on? I mean, you

know We started this off talking about Looney

Tunes and we were watching those 40 years after

they had rolled out the first time You know,

I don't think it's a whole lot different for

for a kid getting shown Dad mom's version of

GI Joe today like you're still a good amount

of value there and you know Yeah, maybe some

of the all of the cultural references don't quite

click and but I still think that a quality show

Still brings that quality Yeah, the sad thing

is the kids today don't have a GI Joe cartoon

cuz ooh There's so many weird things going on

with that license I Honestly, I think the weirdest

thing that goes on with that license is the apathy

connected to it It's it's crazy that this is

this is their their in -house brand so to speak

Mm -hmm Hasbro and they have they have called

upon it to save their bacon any number of times

in their history and right now It's just the

one that that only gets to come off of the bench

because there's a small segment of fans still

hanging on that refused to let go and I mean

GI Joe is a brand that should just be evergreen.

It is it is their version of of Of adventures,

you know, it's sure it's a military backdrop,

but that's Not really what GI Joe's ever been

about, you know, it's been about adventures and

that and That's very versatile and I don't think

they're they want to see that right now and I'm

not sure why I'm not sure why either and you

can still have like how many Adventurers have

there been since The 80s or how many how many

various they like, you know There are so many

things that that we can do in the real world

that you could apply to animation you could I

mean, I know this is going against the brand

you could take the military and just tone it

down completely but That would be going against

the brand like I said and the thing of it is

is for me This is what I remember and this is

just my own personal memory That cartoon, the

original real American hero cartoon, it was like,

our parents wanted us to have a plan. We were

either going to, you know, go to school, go to

college, grow up to be police officers, EMTs,

firemen, going to the military, whatever. And

I personally feel like that cartoon was to show

us kids, partly. what military life was like

even though it wasn't exactly realistic obviously.

But it was one of those things where it was like

hey we have this giant robot cartoon that you

know no one's gonna end up going to planet cybertron

and then we have this. Down to earth even though

it had wild episodes and whatever else but down

to earth like human based. Cartoon in GI Joe

and it sucks that they have not and I'm sorry.

I'll let you It's like we've got we're coming

up on 40 years of Transformers. We're coming

up on 40 years of GI Joe How many GI Joe cartoons

have there been three four? Well, I mean there

was After real American hero there was the second

run of real American era that deep did which

was not good Yeah. And then there was Extreme,

which was actually pretty good. I think it got

hurt a little bit by the poor performance of

the toys more than more than the quality of the

show. Yeah. And then we had there was a little

bit of a break there. And then Sigma Six and

Renegades. Renegades and Resolute. Resolute was

in there somewhere as kind of a one off. And

none of them hit all the buttons, right? Yeah.

It's it just for. As much as and again, my audience

is mostly GI Joe fans and and, you know, I know

you're more of a Transformers guy. And what I've

what I've always loved about the Transformers

crowd is that you guys are willing to hit the

reset button as often times as it takes, right?

You don't like something, whatever. Flush it.

Let's get it. We got a new continuity going and

we'll make some new memories here. Man, the Joe

crowd just does not want to do that. I don't

understand that though. You have, again, like

you said, you have Hasbro as the company with

two of their biggest franchises. They are gung

-ho all on one and then on the other, they're

like, eh, it's not the right time or it's not

this or it's not that. Well, anyway, yeah, I

I wish I could lend any kind of Thread to that,

you know, but honestly, I think it just comes

down From the discussions that like we've had

on what's on Joe mind with with Mark Webber who

used to be the head of marketing for GI Joe And

now is one of the co -hosts of our show I Think

Joe just got caught in the wash of some some

office politics. I think there's just people

that are there and in high ranking spots that

were in charge of the GI Joe brand when it was

not a very successful brand and I think they

carry that prejudice with them in the positions

that they have now and You know all all love

in the world goes to the folks who have worked

on that brand since from from you know from Sigma

6 through 25th anniversary through all the way

down through through what we've got going today.

That's not a comment on the folks who are in

charge of the creative side now. That's not a

statement against the folks who do the marketing

and the design. Emily and Lenny are there now,

and I feel they're knocking it out of the park

most of the time with what limited resources

they have. But yeah, there's just something going

on where G .I. Joe is a taboo word at a certain

level of management at Asbro. And I really think

it just comes down to that. I don't know if there's

any deep, dark conspiracies that we love to formulate.

Because you know what I think about conspiracies,

man. Three people can't keep a secret. So conspiracies

have to... Yeah, like they just don't happen,

right? Most of the time, 99 % of the time, what

you think is a conspiracy is not a conspiracy.

But I think there's just a, it's just a taboo

right now. And it's not going to be until certain

people are out of that company and out of positions

of influence. Yeah. Well, that sucks because,

you know, you, you know, it's not, G .I. Joe

isn't just lumped in. It isn't to me, even though

I'm not that like I was on the transformer side

and I want to and I'm going to eventually go

back and probably spend a weird amount of money

to get that footlocker set. But I am going to

go back and watch that old cartoon. But it's

one of those things where. You don't have to

spend any money at all. You can just watch it

on Tubi for free. That's that's true. That's

yeah, that's true. Anyway, I interrupted you,

go ahead. No, no, no, that's all right. Yes,

folks, Tubi. They don't sponsor us, but go watch

cartoons on Tubi. Tubi's amazing. Yes, yes, it

is. Forget paying for a cable package when there's

Tubi. But what I was going to say was G .I. Joe

is one of those, it was back in the 80s, one

of those breakout standout things along with

it. You have this timeline I mentioned again

I say this every episode of every show I've talked

about stuff. The cartoon timeline of the eighties

into the nineties is just a constant cartoon

express of. Events go from G .I. Joe to he man

to transformers and Voltron 84 to. Thundercats

mask jam in 85. 86 was Silverhawks, 87 is Turtles,

and Turtles goes to 96. But there was this whole

thing of, when I was a kid, it was like, oh,

this is over, what's next? And then obviously

in 1989 and 1990, the Simpsons hit, and then

everything just exploded. So I assume I already

know the answer to this one, but what was your

number one favorite cartoon as a kid? Yeah, I

think we've hit on that one a little bit. And

even then, when I was a kid, there was just an

energy about G .I. Joe, right? Even as a kid,

we recognized that some of those plots were pretty

dumb. And that these were not real -world situations

that our very real -world -styled heroes were

being thrust into. But what was the best part

of the G .I. Joe show? It's something that my

mom actually put her thumb on for me. And because

she was watching with us one day and I asked

her, it's like, hey, mom, why do you want to

watch GI Joe with us? Because she would. Almost

on a daily basis, weekdays at four, mom was there

in front of the TV with us. And she was like,

you know, I like it because the adults in the

show act like adults. There's never an episode

that shows kids doing things that put themselves

in danger to stop. the bad guys this is all you

know these people they're they're they're very

real they're very well rounded they have um you

know they they have thoughts and sometimes they're

not nice and sometimes they they like one another

and sometimes they love one another and sometimes

they don't like one another and that's just how

people act and so i like that in your kid show

is that the people act like people and the adults

act like adults. I have carried that with me

to this day as a hallmark of good animated television.

Absolutely. You can dumb these things down to

little kids, but once you get to where your viewership

needs is in that seven, eight, nine -year -old

range, it's got to start leveling up a little

bit. GI Joe did that. G .I. Joe was not written.

It's sometimes written about silly things, but

it was never written in a silly way. Yeah, absolutely.

And it's a good thing. I hope she never saw a

mask because they were always putting that kid

in harm's way. He did a good job of putting himself

in harm's way. Well, true. She was not really

a fan of masks, no. But in defense. I was never

a fan of Scott Tracker, so I wasn't as worried

about that. Mask would come on and we'd watch

it. For a while, Mask was on after G .I. Joe,

so it was a quick turnaround. There were times

where I remember just physically, God, he's in

trouble again? Just my little Long Island 10

-year -old smart -ass self sitting on the couch,

just despondent because it's another, oh, we

have to save Scott episode. Oh my God, I hate

Scott Tracker. To this day, I hate Scott Tracker.

You know what the crazy thing is? While I do

also share the hatred of that character, I hate

T -Bob more. T -Bob is the worst. No, I love

T -Bob. T -Bob is T -Bob. What? He's money. He

is a comedy genius. He is a comedy genius but

he aids in the stupidity of Scott. He has no

choice, he's programmed to. Yes, well. He is

programmed to listen to Scott, so he has to listen

to Scott. If he's programmed well enough to at

least throw a sardonic line out there as he is

doing what he is forced to do by programming,

then so be it. That's the best case scenario

for that poor guy that we could ask for. I guess.

I mean, unless you want to, you know, give him

a talking cat from Thundera that, you know, you

know, you can't. Well, Loma's nursemaid over

there. We're getting things out of the way early,

folks, but that's a question that comes later.

Early Thundercats are tough to watch for me.

It got a little better as it went, but man, those

first couple seasons are... Those later episodes

were also hard too sometimes. What are some other

cartoons you like? Do you have a favorite cartoon

genre or type? I was probably number two all

time in our house growing up. And if you ask

my brother, it's probably his number one, my

older brother, Super Friends. Superheroes are

a big thing. So that was... Really the linchpin

of our Saturday for a solid decade Was was the

Super Friends and when they went off the air

in 87 or 88 or whatever that was, you know, you

know, they used to have those those It was always

the Friday night the night before the new season

of Saturday morning shows would premiere they

would have a Preview show of what was coming

for Saturday night And that first one that they

rolled out of there that did not have some version

of super friends or superpowers or whatever,

you could have heard a pin drop in our family

room. We were just stunned. We were not ready

to handle the world without a weekly dose of

animated Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman,

et cetera. So that was number two. I always enjoyed,

again, I said I was watching them now. But Real

Ghostbusters was a, I loved it. We grew up in

New York. There's a lot of smart New York stuff

written in that show. That show is very much

a love letter to the city it's set in. Kind of

like the movies were. So they hit a lot of those

well it holds up. Let me think, what else was

I just glued to? Again, I liked Mask. I was always

kind of sad that Centurions never got more of

a run. It was kind of a dopey show, but it had

a really good opening miniseries, and then it

kind of tailed off a bit after that. What else?

What else? What else? Well, we'll stick with

that. I'm sure it'll come to me as we go. There

we go. How did your cartoon watching habits change

as you grew up and throughout your life? I'll

be honest. I don't know how much they have. Obviously,

I watch more stuff that's geared for adults.

I've made that transition. It's, you know, Venture

Brothers and... Simpsons and, and family guy.

And, and, you know, there's stuff that's meant

for adults. I watch more often than I watch shows

for kids anymore, but every so often a really

smart kid show come along and I'll get stuck

on that too. One of my, one of my absolute favorite

shows of ever is Phineas and Ferb. I know what

we're doing today love Phineas and Ferb and there

is no reason for me to have caught that show

other than One night. I'm flipping through channels

and late night on Disney Whatever channel we

know whichever one it's on yeah I'm watching

this weird little cartoon with a secret agent

platypus and a wisecracking mad scientist and

I am I'm in I'm just in A platypus? Right. Perry

the Platypus! Platypus controlling me, now let

me sum it up It was a strange set of circumstances

Strange set of circumstances I cut down the hill,

I got glue on my hands Now I got records on my

fingers and I just can't stop Don't stop, don't

stop Well, I would if I was able There's a platypus

controlling me He's underneath the table There's

a platypus controlling him What? Oh, I get it

Platypus is a metaphor for whatever's keeping

you down The corporations are a platypus The

government's a platypus Your teacher is a platypus

My teacher is a panda Society's a platypus My

parents are a platy - The media's a platypus.

It's all just propaganda. Yeah, we all got a

platypus controlling us. That's me. We all got

a platypus controlling us. I'm not speaking metaphorically.

The platypus controlling me is underneath the

table. Wait. Oh, wait. No, he's gone. Hey. There's

no platypus controlling me. There's no platypus

controlling me. Your dad's kind of cool. You're

my punk rock boyfriend. You're not supposed to

think my dad is cool. matters that I think he's

cool. Man, if you gave me just just 26 seasons

of Doof and Schmertz, I'd never get tired of

it. But that that's another one that just add

it to the list as we go. But, you know, I I don't

know past that because I never I don't have a

lot of like I haven't made the transition. transition

into anime very often. There's a few that I've

liked over the years, but on the whole, it's

not a genre that I'm real keen on. But yeah,

I like ones that are smart. I like ones that

don't insult my intelligence. I like ones that

have a point. And so really, it's not a whole

lot different than... non -animated television.

If it strikes that chord, whatever weird fancy

that makes me like a show, being animated or

not doesn't seem to matter too much. Yeah, absolutely.

I had no idea you were a Phineas and Ferb fan.

We've been covering Phineas and Ferb since 2011.

Back in, was it 2016 or 2017? I forget. My buddy

michael wilson and i started the podcast organization

without a cool acronym and we were going through

every single episode we've made it up season

three so far it's a great show man great show

such a great show i don't know if you. Followed

what Dan and Swampy did after that, but they

did Milo Murphy's Law, which is also a really,

really great show. I haven't seen too, too much

of it. I've caught the odd episode here and there.

Yeah. This is pretty good. I got some of my friend's

kids stuck on Phineas and Ferb when I was watching

that one. And so they would tell me about Milo

Murphy's Law. Very cool. I've caught that. I

know more about that one than I should having

maybe three episodes of it just from listening

to them relay stories about it to me. Absolutely.

How often do you go back and rewatch any of the

cartoons you grew up with? Oh, wow. It depends.

I think I'll go back and catch GI Joe every four

or five years. I've caught a lot of it in this

last year. So, you know, they have that, that,

that, uh, that live feed on, on YouTube. So the

episodes that are in there, I've seen an awful

lot of in the last 12 months. But, uh, besides

that, I'll go and give it a, like a, a front

to back rewatch the, the, the Sunbeau stuff every

four or five years, the Deke stuff. There's a

bit more time in between. That's tough, man.

That first season of Deke is okay. Yeah. He said

with a sneer, uh, the second season is, that

second season of Deke is just, just bad. It's

about as bad as the second season of mask, even

though it was only 10 episodes. You know, it's,

it's worse than that. Like the second season

of mask is crazy. It doesn't make any sense.

Better than the second season of GI Joe. Wow,

that's crazy. Yeah. Which, and I hate this, like

I've already said, I fully believe stuff is meant

to be looked at and viewed at in the time that

it was made, but we have to ask this question

apparently. Which cartoons from your childhood

have you rewatched as an adult and which ones

held up the best and or worst? Well, again, we've

covered that with G .I. Joe. G .I. Joe held up.

It holds up about as well now as it did then.

Again, some of the technology stuff is a little

weird and outdated. Just passing phone booth

references and things like that, dumb stuff.

On the whole, G .I. Joe is always slightly futuristic,

so it's held up about as well as it can. What

hasn't held up? Wow, I don't know. The ones that

I don't enjoy from back then, I don't think it's

because it's interpreted any differently. I was

never a He -Man fan, and that show had a big

part of it. Because I love the aesthetic of Masters

of the Universe. It's kind of cool. I'm not a

big swords and sorcery type, so the fact that

there was a good healthy dose of science fiction

mixed in there was very attractive to me. But

you get to where you're watching the show, and

it just was like they would build this very complicated

problem in very basic terms. You know, Filmation

very much wrote that as a kids show. And then

that very complicated problem with these very

layered characters would get solved by He -Man

pushing something over or breaking a machine.

And that would like, He -Man is the ultimate

Mary Sue and he is absolutely a buzzkill of a

character. It sounds so, so weird to say it out

loud because he's such a big part of what that

is, but I would love Masters of the Universe

if not for He -Man. Yeah. And it's funny because

I'm just now thinking about it. You're right.

He would always throw a rock or a boulder or

something. Yeah. Yeah. Sensors didn't allow him

to fight anybody. Well, right. Yeah, obviously,

but I'm thinking in my brain between the eighties

and nineties. And I know that Killer Croc was

around before. He -Man was, but because of comics

and all that, but cartoon wise, technically He

-Man threw a rock at him first. Right. But I

don't think that, like my dislike for He -Man,

those shows play, I think they too play about

as well now as they did then. Like I don't think

the fact that it's 40 years later has anything

to do with why those don't land with me. Yeah,

I think there's a certain extent of it where

kids are kids, right? Mm -hmm. And if you're

writing a show aimed at that demographic, it's

It's not gonna change a whole lot again. It's

gonna be a bit more culturally relevant But as

far as the lessons and the characters and things

like that, they're they're pretty much They're

pretty much gonna be the same. I mean the lessons

really like okay So the basic and again, I've

been doing this for 14 years. We spent Ten or

so years. Actually, we've covered almost all

of it except the new Netflix Masters stuff. Well,

we've covered the Kevin Smith fuck -me -show,

but Dude, it's we're explicit around here on

it that God that show I haven't seen it. So Yeah,

you don't want to yeah, but I don't care about

even but exactly but the thing about The filmation

show was, you had an episode that had something

happen and you needed to teach kids a lesson.

And I do think a lot of those, okay, maybe, you

know, call your local blah, blah, blah to blah,

blah, blah. Maybe those don't hold up, but like

the standard things of stop, drop and roll and

what those are universal. Right. Yeah. See kind.

Listen to adults in authority situations. Don't

trust strangers right out of the gate, but be

nice to them. Stuff like that, it's not going

to be any different from one generation to the

next. There's some very basic level of values

that we've tried to instill, going back well

before the 80s when we were coming up. Oh, yeah,

absolutely. Yeah, most definitely. I think it

just hit more in the 80s because they're like,

Oh crap we have to have PSA's after every one

of these violent cartoons right that really weren't

terribly violent picture didn't i know i mean

well like we said he threw a rock just to save

somebody. Which cartoons that have aired when

you were an adult have you liked the most that

you mentioned Phineas and Ferb? So what is it

about that show? Specifically and you mentioned

Perry and doof and all that but what else again?

Everybody is very real right like the kids act

like kids the adults act like adults and they

don't dumb them down like Linda and Lawrence

are the parents They're not stupid people. They're

clueless about what's going on in the backyard

all the time. They're distracted with hobbies

and doing family stuff and one another's company.

They're doing actual things. They're not clueless

because they're dumb. They're clueless almost

entirely by chance. That's part of the fun of

the show is finding what crazy circumstances

are going to emerge to distract Linda from disciplining

her children that day. But since I've been an

adult, I would say the first cartoon that I truly

loved as an adult, putting Batman the Animated

Series kind of on the line as I made the transition

into my post -18 world. But the first one that

happened entirely as an adult would have been

The Tick. Oh my God, I love the tick. Uh, just

got done rewatching the tick. It's on Hulu for

anybody who's, who's got Hulu out there. Um,

but, uh, love the tick. Um, uh, mentioned venture

brothers before, uh, always, always a winner.

Um, uh, family guy was, I. I hate to be that

guy, but Family Guy was a show I enjoyed very

much, and now a little less so. That's a show

that kind of needs to die. The Simpsons, of course,

is a classic. It kind of needs to die. I understand

why they haven't. They're tough to watch. You

know, they could have given us that second movie

by now, but oh no. Would you really want a second

movie? Depending on what the story is. Well,

I haven't. I've seen maybe a half of an episode

recently. I don't even remember the last season

I watched fully. I can't either, but I pop in

every maybe three, four weeks and it's just never

Like there's still moments Yeah They can still

put a gag on with any yeah, they're that good

but in terms of just because We've known the

story of these characters for over a quarter

of a century a third of a century now, I guess,

you know And when they start hitting beats that

don't fit in those those character molds it hits

It feels less like development and more like

we just don't have anywhere else to go. They

just have to throw out what came before and try

something completely different. Again, I understand

that, but at what point do we just not just wad

it up and try maybe a different show? I don't

know, man. Family Guy was fun at the beginning

because those episodes, They tried, they put

the veneer of all this crazy stuff and this edgy

stuff happening within the standard family sitcom

trope of everybody learns a lesson and there's

some semblance of heart in the overlying plot

of the show. They are trying to be better at

the end than they were at the beginning. And

somewhere along the way that show has completely

thrown that out the window. You're just kind

of watching for these funny beats, these throwaway

gags, these cutaways. And again, they're funny.

I don't want to take away from it. These cutaway

gags are still pretty good. They can still put

those together with the best of them. But in

terms of what's going on with the characters

that you care about, eh. And the funny thing

is I tried that a number of years ago and I just,

I never got into the characters. Again, I'm not

saying they're the greatest, but. Yeah. But then,

you know, it is what it is, but it's just one

of those things where there are only so many

times you can see Stewie curse out Lois in various

ways without actually cursing her out. Sure.

Him actually saying, Mom, you are a shit ball

or whatever the hell, like, you know, just. Right.

But Stewie, the evil genius was more entertaining

for me than whatever he is now. You know, Brian,

the voice of reason from the dog. Uh, it's more

entertaining to me that, you know, then as Brian,

the, the, the alcoholic douche bag is today,

you know, Peter, the, the lovable Lunkhead who

can't, you know, tie his shoes is, is, was more

entertaining then as Peter, the just open asshole

is now. So there's, there's like these characters

have, have been around. Those characters have

been around so long. They've become the perverted

images of themselves. They're through the looking

glass and what we've got left is this twisted

remnant of what came before. It's not as much

fun. Yeah. Content creation, those of us that

create content, sometimes the content reflects

what's going on in our lives. Sure. Maybe McFarlane

has gone through some shit where all of a sudden

he's allowed his real life to come through to

these characters. and screwed them up beyond

repair. The scuttlebutt has been for a few years

that he's really wished they would cancel Family

Guy, so he could just go on and do other things.

And maybe that's what they are trying to do.

It just won't happen because Family Guy is the

number one rated show for viewers between, what

is it, like 18 and 34. It's crap in the ratings

overall, but it really hammers that demographic,

which is an important demographic for setting

ad rates. Family Guy isn't going anywhere, not

for a while, no matter how mean -spirited and

heartless they want to make it. Again, I don't

want to say that it happens all the time. They

do come through with an episode that's kind of

fun once in a while. They do it more often than

The Simpsons does. Um, which, uh, really the

Simpsons, please, please somebody kill the Simpsons.

I think the last episode I remember. And it was

only because Patrick Stewart was there. It was

the stone cutters. That was the last episode.

I remember watching like all the way through.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And like I. Think I tried to

watch the Season 32 for me. I don't remember

but like yeah the Simpsons I have completely

fallen off the the Simpsons Bart Wagon So yeah,

go ahead I'm sorry Mike go ahead on the flip

side of all of that Are there any cartoons you

hate or have been greatly disappointed by? I

don't, I don't know. Um, cause like, if I'm going

to be interested enough to tune in, I've already

gone through a pretty good vetting process. Anyway,

like time is short, right? There's, there's a

lot of TV out there to watch and there's no way

I'm going to catch it all. So if I'm tuning in,

in the first place. You're already checking boxes.

And even if you don't check them real hard, I'm

not going to be so angry about it that I would

classify as being just greatly disappointed.

I don't know if I invest enough in any television

program to just be pissed off by them when they

don't land. I'm trying to think. No, yeah, no,

not really just I okay if I don't like it it's

top Yeah, I'm not exactly this stuff. I know

there's some folks that they watch the first

episode of something They got to sit through

it all the way through I'm not I'll drop you

halfway. Yeah half the time if I don't like again,

I I've said this for 14 years Advertisements

and or trailers or whatever are there to either

get you into the thing that they're trying to

show you, or it's going to turn you off on it.

And they're cartoons that I've seen commercials

of and whatever. And I'm just like, Nope, that's

not for me. And I'm not going to waste my time.

Right. If it's for somebody else, Hey, fine.

Great. Go ahead. Enjoy. I don't care. But right.

Like very. Adult swim is kind of that way right

like adult swim is a phenomenon that I was there

at the beginning We're watching the very first

night adult swim was a thing And it is just as

I have I have aged out Yeah, you know like they're

very rarely does a show come on adult swim that

I am at all interested in and usually if one

does it's not going to be there for very long

because If it's appealing to an old dude like

me They don't have any use for it anymore. They

want people in their 20s. They want the young

upstarts. I'm just an old upstart now. I'm a

middle -aged upstart. I'm a middle -aged upstart

that lost the brakes. I'm running off the tracks

at this point. Just put your arms out, man. There's

nothing to do but take off. Ain't that the truth?

Who is your end all be all favorite character

from any cartoon? You can pick a hero and a villain

a hero and a villain you say yep from any cartoon

Wow Wow I Let's say from from the hero side I'm

gonna dip back into To Batman the animated series

here and I'm gonna say that that Dick Grayson's

the guy Robin or Nightwing absolutely Dick Grayson

for me is He's the best character in comics,

right? He's stuck next to Batman who is this

incomparable like when Batman has done well he's

a badass when he's done poorly he's a Mary Sue

and and it's you know you know your your mileage

may vary depending on on where he where it falls

in that spectrum from story to story but somehow

Dick Grayson lands right next to that guy and

always comes out being pretty cool yeah like

he's Batman with a personality yeah I say this

all the time. Batman, regardless of how good

or bad he can be at times, Batman is the legendary

figure. Batman is the one you want to live up

to. However, Dick Grayson Robin slash Nightwing

is the one that you may be able to relate somewhat

to. Granted, not all of us are going to be able

to relate to having our parents being murdered

at the circus, but You know, the fact that Bruce

takes him in, you know, you think of, you know,

foster families and orphans and all of that.

And the fact that Bruce himself was an orphan,

obviously his parents got shot in front of him.

Right. You know, and all that, and obviously

Alfred and wherever else. But yeah, like Dick

Grayson, Robin Nightwing. Yeah, very much like

he, he is that. But you should want to be Dick

Grayson. Like you, like you, you brought it up

right there. Bruce Wayne's parents were killed

in front of him and he was brought in. Uh, you

know, Alfred took him in as he was his own. Um,

and you know, there's some weird lines getting

drawn there because he was the family Butler

and all that, but for all intents and purposes,

Alfred brought that kid up. Like he was Bruce

Pennyworth and he's still, he's still pretty

fractured, right? Whereas Dick Grayson, his,

his parents die in front of him in similarly

violent circumstances. Um, he gets brought in

by Bruce Wayne and he's. I mean, obviously, you

never totally get over something like that. But

he's at least moved forward with his life. It's

not like bringing his parents' killers to justice

and everybody who dares do similar actions is

not just every thought of every day, of every

waking moment for Dick Grayson. He's got other

things on his plate. Despite his tragedy, he's

a fully formed person in ways that Bruce Wayne

just is not. Well, because Bruce is so broken.

Well, again, it's a similar origin in that sense.

And whereas Bruce may be stronger in body, I

think Dick is stronger in character. He's stronger

in character, absolutely. There's nothing wrong

with the Bruce Wayne, Batman, BTAS character.

I mean, there are things wrong with the character,

but it's not portrayed incorrectly. It's portrayed

emotionally. No, no, no. I love it. It's the

best name. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And may the

man rest in peace. God damn it. Kevin Connery

and Jason David Frank within a week of each other,

folks. That's just a tough one. That's tough.

Very, very, very tough. But yeah, Dick Grayson,

man, all the way, like he's. He's awesome. He

just is. And he's that character that you can

look at and you can see a part of yourself in

him. You can get things out of that character

that relate to your life. And it's cool. Right.

He was put in the comic book way back in 1940

as the entry point for young kids. And even in

Batman, the animated series, there's. Dick is

college age and there's moments where he is clearly

overwhelmed and this is like, well, okay, I'm

going with that guy. And we'll just go from there.

Like there are those moments where you're just

along for the ride with him. And I just think

he's the best character for me in animation.

And that carried and he progressed. He grew into

Nightwing where he was his own guy and, and kind

of rebelling against that structure a little

bit. And we all had that point in our life too.

Yep. Absolutely. He is one of the very first

quote unquote kid characters that would you say

1940? Oh God. That's, that's what 70. That is

82 years ago. 83 years ago. So in the 83 years,

he was the original kid character, but in 83

years, he has done more than Scott Tracker could

have done in 75 episodes. Well, I was trying

to compare human to human because a lot of the

other kid characters are either animals or what

like you can't compare Dick Grayson to snarf.

Just kidding. You'd feel bad for snarf, but anyways.

Exactly. What about villain? For villains? Oh,

man. Do you beat the Chris Lotticover commander?

I don't think you do. No, I knew you were going

to say that. That guy throws lines out there

on that show that I still laugh at. Coming down

the end of... of the pyramid of darkness. He's

yelling at the twins. I wish there were three

of you so I could hate you even more. I mean,

that's a fantastic line delivered fantastically.

You can't beat that, man. Cobra Commander's my

guy. I'm very sad with what was going on in his

personal life at the time, but his performances

in the eighties. He took whatever they think

somebody wrote that for that care. It isn't just

him making this shit up off the top of his head.

That's in a script. So he has to take that character

voice and apply it to those words. And as beautiful

as some of those words may be at times that someone

wrote. He brought it to life and he like, you

know, and. For me, all is art. Again, I need

to go back and rewatch GI Joe and I plan on doing

that next year in 2023. Even in the Deek shows

where the quality of overall had dropped off,

Chris Lottos over commander is still a winner.

Yep. Absolutely. Uh, but I mean, you know, I

still remember only human from. Yeah, it is in

season three, only human in season three at the

end. You know, everything is for sale, Mr. Drath

and all this and all that and playing old snake

and. Yeah, so good. There's a lot of you are

missed. OK, so who besides those who are some

of your other favorite cartoon characters that

you like? Are there any that you hate? I mean,

you know, Perry, the platypus right up there.

Anybody anybody who makes me chuckle like Perry

does without saying a word that's a quality character

Absolutely Let's see I mean I've I've rambled

on about GI Joe and I think a big part of that

was they had such a great diverse cast of characters

You know, you got something different every episode

just by who showed up You know, you could have

run the same plot more than once, but if you

do it with six different Joes, it's a completely

different episode, and I think that was the fun

there. As far as the show, I was always more

plugged into the Flint and Lady J episodes as

opposed to the Duke and Scarlett episodes. Just

had more of a connection with the two of them,

so I'll put Flint and Lady J on there. Dung Ho

was another favorite from the cartoon I'll tell

you he's he's been associated with me now for

several years Beachhead was not a character that

I really attached to as a kid He was cool. He

looked cool. Don't get me wrong. I love the figure

yeah, but as far as the cartoon when he was he

was kind of standoffish and kind of jerky and

as I've rewatched that show over the years I've

realized those things are true, right? Like Beachhead's

not always the nicest guy, but he is generally

right. I mean, he very seldomly is Beachhead

wrong about something. And I think there's a

lesson in that somewhere where, you know, Beachhead

is very much a good guy, if not a nice guy. And

too often those words are used interchangeably.

And sometimes we need to do better about figuring

out who the good guys are instead of wondering

about who the nice guys are. Because nice only

takes you so far. Like it's wonderful if you

find somebody who's both, don't get me wrong.

But we have to, we need to continue to put good

ahead of nice because there's so many times in

that second series of Sunbow. where have they

just listened to Beachhead out of the gate? The

episode's over about 10 minutes in, right? Yeah.

He's the voice of reason. Right. If we just followed

the security protocols like Beachhead told you

to at the beginning of the episode, we don't

have any problems here. If we just follow the

attack plan like Beachhead laid out at the beginning

of the episode, you don't get kidnapped and we

don't have a problem here. So he's very much

right most of the time. Um, and, um, so there's

a, I've grown a fondness for him as I've gotten

older. Right. Um, and, um, you know, have been

as, as we walk, as all of us walk through life,

we are, we find ourselves in situations where

sometimes we have to have, uh, tough talks with

people where our intentions are the best. Uh,

but it's still not going to be an easy thing

for them to hear. And, um, that's a guy who you.

You kind of keep in the back of your head. You

know, yeah, yeah, I guess I do know about that

from a pretty early age. Let's see, with Transformers

is always tough for me. My favorite Transformer

was Side Swipe and he was really nothing. He

was a nothing character. Are you kidding me?

What are you talking about? Nothing character.

He didn't do anything on that show. He did plenty

on that. Do you not remember the Judo twins?

Come on, man. Just saying, you get past that

first mini series and there's very few spotlight

moments for Sideswipe. Very few. There are. Well,

and again, it's, I blame the, I don't blame any,

but what I blame is, is the character introduction

because You know, that first season had 16 episodes.

The second season had 49 episodes and they introduced

all these other characters. Right. So the problem

is as you introduce a million other characters,

the main characters you originally saw in those

first 16 episodes aren't going to have a whole

lot of that. Yeah. Some of them got through,

you know, you still saw a lot of iron hide. You

still saw a lot of jazz. You still saw a lot

of ratchet and prowl and. you know some of those

guys made you know obviously bumblebee um despite

no one actually wanting to see that version of

bumblebee hey help me oh he was the worst i hated

bumblebee what um g1 bumblebee is he's a train

wreck like and i'm not going to say it was that

way in every episode there's some episodes where

he's pretty useful but there's some other ones

where he is clearly the guy who Is there to make

spike look good? Yep. And wow, those are, those

are tough to watch. Oh, just this, cause spike

was again, it just, something didn't smell right.

You have this, you have this, this battle going

on with these two teams of giant robots going

on and spike Witwicky is, is getting in the middle

of it and he's the, he's the thing that swings

the tide and no, it just, it just felt like you're,

it felt like you're It felt like you stopped

trying to tell me a story and started trying

to sell me toys. And I know you're always trying

to sell me toys. But if you can make me forget

that for half an hour like G .I. Joe would do,

then I would be happy. And if you couldn't stay

on that side of the line, like Transformers didn't

always stay on that side of the line, I wasn't

nearly as happy. I've already told my contempt

for He -Man. Yep. Absolutely the worst character

in Masters of the Universe. And I know you'll

get some mail about that one. Mail? I hope. Something.

Hey, let's hope. I know my listeners aren't going

to watch because Lord knows we do anything outside

of a Friday night live show and people forget

about it. They do not watch. So I don't know

why we bother putting up recorded content to

cover the weeks when we're not around. because

nobody watches it. So I have a feeling that,

you know, me showing up here, I hope it brings

you many listeners. I have a feeling that my

lazy listeners will not answer that call. Well,

they should because you're awesome and this is

audio only. We don't watch anything. We just

listen. Right. If you did make it over because

you're a fan of What's On Joe Mind, you know

you're one of the special ones and I'm not talking

about you. Exactly. Who are some of your favorite

cartoon voices and or voice actors? I didn't

know it at the time, but Maurice LaMarche was

that guy. He was kind of late in regards to childhood,

right? But he was Egon on Real Ghostbusters.

I think that was his first real big gig. And

then kind of took off from there. But man, pinky

in the brain is, is that is masterclass stuff.

Yup. And that's, that's one. See, I told you

I'd more of them would come to me as we went

along, but the brain is, is an absolute win.

Um, Maurice LaMarche is, is one of my dream gets

for what's on Joe mind. Uh, he has not responded

to any of our repeated requests for an interview,

but whatever. Uh, that happens sometimes. Uh,

we don't hold it against him. Well, it's funny

you say that You know, of course Rob Paulson's

on that list he's he's fantastic too just everything

he does It has has that energy I Used to really

enjoy Lorenzo music. Yep, just that that that

sleepy, you know Sleepy baritone voice he had

was was perfect for Garfield and worked surprisingly

well for real Ghostbusters 2 and That's another

guy who just you know, he just suddenly Wasn't

doing cartoons anymore. And that was when everybody

figured out that he'd passed away. So yeah, that

was that was too bad. Yeah You know, I think

some of that is is colored by Some of this answer

is colored by the folks I've gotten a chance

to talk to As an adult doing what's on Joe mind

like Bill Ratner is an amazing human being Just

just an absolutely delightful person And so he's

only Flint right like he didn't do a whole lot

of other work besides for GI Joe One of my favorites

because he's such a great guy Zach Hoffman like

that too, you know, he's the voice of Zartan.

He wasn't a whole lot of other voices But he

was such he's such a great dude uh, that I've

gotten a chance to know as an adult that, you

know, he's, he's just one of my favorites. Like,

I can't, we, we can't watch the Seattle Seahawks,

uh, my brother and I, without him, one of us

making a joke about what, what Zach Hoffman is

reacting to at that particular moment. And that's

the interesting thing about Joe is that that

show was pretty much one voice, one actor. It

wasn't like. To my room and again you can you

can correct me you're more the expert that i

am but like peter cullen played three different

voices in transformers between optimus prime

iron hide nightstick and maybe one other one

but like transformers you had those actors doing.

Like you talk about side swipe that's michael

bell michael bell was also the voice of swoop

and everything else it goes back. Yep, Prowl.

And it goes back to the whole thing of back then,

the rule of threes. You can play three characters

for what we're going to pay you. And if you play

any more characters, we have to pay you extra.

But G .I. Joe, it seems like Chris Lotto was

one voice with Cobra Commander, Destro was one

voice, Flint was one voice, Duke was one voice.

Am I wrong? Yes. Bill Ratner was pretty much

just Flint. Okay, Zach Hoffman was pretty well

just Zartan Morgan lofting obviously was just

the Baroness, but they would also do they were

also Oftentimes the other assorted voices that

you would you would hear you know some random

dude on the street or some Trooper or something

like that, but Michael Bell had several voices.

He was clutch. He was blowtorch. He was Duke

He was he was One of the twins I forget if he

was Tomax or Zaymon He was major blood and I

think the fact that You know the the Joe and

Cobra voices were so distinctively different

He was also Michael Bell was also scrap iron

Oh Gung -ho was Chris Lada and Cobra commander,

you know Arthur Burghart was also Stalker and

Iceberg. Along with Destro, yeah. Along with

Destro. They have a role that they're known for,

but then there's usually some other ones too.

Greg Berger was three or four different guys,

and Dan Gilvesen was three or four different

guys. There was very much a... Frank Welker as

you know, he was he was three or four different

guys and then all the animals So yeah, so you

had you had Frank in the booth in front. Okay,

Frank you can have three main characters and

that's what we're paying you for and Then they

look at the thing and oh wait, there's like Seven

different animals oh crap we have to pay frank

even though we have to pay more yeah yeah like

like and i love frank i always have and i always

i always and i'm saying this with a smile like

it's not right we're not going to be. Yeah no

not at all it's just the way that and i will

i am so fascinated with the way that that was

back then as far as like. You know before you

passed away wally burr would always tell the

story of you got three characters. any of these

people who were doing those voices back then

on all the cartoons, not just Transformers and

Joe, but Mask and He -Man and all the stuff.

It was like, that was the rule. Three voices,

three characters, anything else, we got to pay

you extra. I find that absolutely fascinating.

Even Peter Cullen on G .I. Joe, off the top of

my head, he was Airborne and Xandar, and probably

somebody else too. Probably. Will Ryan was mutt

and footloose. Neil Ross was dusty and shipwreck

and heavy metal when the one episode that he

got lines. And I'm trying to think of who they

were. It's late, so I'm leaving off entries.

But while there was a large cast, they were all

usually pulling double and triple duty. Yeah,

absolutely. Did you or do you own anything based

on cartoons? So toys, comics, video games, et

cetera. Right. Yeah, a lot. Yeah. I mean, you

do a GI Joe podcast for 11 years and you probably

have a little bit of a collection. So that's

kind of a chicken and egg kind of deal, right?

Like, was it, uh, were the toys selling the cartoon

or the cartoon selling the toy? And the answer

is yes to both of those. But, uh, but any number

of other odd knickknacks and toys and things

like that. Yo, my God, just, we don't, we don't

have enough time to list it all. No, that's for

Toycast when we actually do have the three hours

to talk about toys. Good Lord. It's going to

be fun when we do that. You'll like it. It's

always a blast. It may take a while, but the

stories that come out of that, when I expanded

the format of bringing the quote unquote GCR

and origins to all the other, most of the other

shows, when I was like, oh, Toycast, okay, well,

42 is the answer to everything, right? So, okay,

we're going to have 42 questions. And these 42

questions have to be the most specific in depth.

questions that we, like the first five are, yeah,

general, but six to 42, it's like getting it

right at the heart of the matter. Get that needle

sharpened. Yep, absolutely. What is your favorite

cartoon theme song? Hmm. Hmm. I mean. honorary

mentions, I guess we can start. Johnny Quest

is a fantastic one. We had a quick story here.

My high school jazz band, in its attempt to reach

for the stars, busted out the Johnny Quest theme

song. And I, as a trombone player, was one of

the poor, unlucky souls subjected to the... Try

that on a trombone, pal. Good luck. Good luck

to you. Years later, my brother would recount

to me that he was reading somewhere that they

re -scored that. Originally, that was the line

put in for the trumpet section and they re -scored

it to where the trombone players got it because

they weren't paying attention in rehearsal. And

that sounds so on brand for trombone players

that makes sense. Uh, absolutely. But, uh, honorary

mention there. Um, I, I favorite. I'm going to

go off the map on you here and pick out one of

the animes that I do like, uh, cowboy. Oh, really?

Yeah. Great theme song. Fantastic. Yeah. I'm,

I'm on the very, very at like, basically is it,

what is it? It's, um, Yeah, it's it's Freak Hold

on damn it One hour ten minutes 52 seconds 53

at it It's Phantom Menace when they land and

they land the ship outside of the city That's

how far away from the city. That's how far away

from anime I am. Like, I am not just on the outskirts

of it. I've seen several and I don't dislike

anime, but it's just not my thing. Right. But

I'm going to have to check out some of the stuff

eventually. Right. Believe me, if you look at

the opening theme to that one, you will not be

disappointed. But of course, other honorable

mentions, both the Sunbow. and the Deke versions

of G .I. Joe are great. If, you know, the Sunbow

one's kind of classic and then the Deke one is

kind of 80s cheese, but 80s cheese is a good

thing for me, so. Of course, real Ghostbusters

is just the, you know, it's Ghostbusters. It's

Ghostbusters, I mean it, yeah. And you know what?

The Filmation Ghostbusters, also a great theme

song. I never liked that one. Oh, man. That's

a show that I don't understand how, like they

clearly spent all of the money, all the budget

for that show on character design. Yeah. Because

they did not leave anything left for the script

writers. Yeah. It's such a beautiful show to

look at. Yep. And then it's really kind of starts

to hurt when it all starts to move. But anyways.

I digress. I don't want to, I don't want to be

mean about things. Um, uh, let's see. Uh, I mean,

Phineas and Ferb is a great theme song. Absolutely.

Hell, Doofenshmirtz, Daily Dirt and Doofenshmirtz

Evil Incorporated are great theme songs. That

show, there were so many great songs within that

show that yeah, we could do a whole show based

on that. Yep, we actually have I think at one

point or another but yeah, I'm sure I'm sure

if you've gotten a season three Yeah, you've

probably already hit some of the the truly. Oh,

yeah But yeah, yeah, we'll go with that one.

So look that one up Very cool. Very cool. How

big is your animation DVD or digital collection?

Are there any series that you have complete sets

of? I've got if it's Animated GI Joe for the

most part. I've got it. I don't have Sigma six.

Uh, cause it's terrible. Yeah. It's not one you

want to have in the collection. It's, it's, uh,

look, man, I, I tried to watch, uh, I tried to

sit down and watch Sigma six and not too long

ago either. Um, I made an attempt when it was

actually on. And it didn't go well. Uh, and so

I sat down again, you know, it's like, you know

what, maybe there's more to this, you know, I've

had friends tell me that the show got better

as it went along. And maybe that's the case,

but I can't get past episode three. Oh, wow.

It's really, it's just bad. It's, uh, uh, General

Hulk has a kid in that one. And of course his

name is Scott and he gets in all kinds of trouble.

And I wish I was making that up, but no, the

parallels to mask are there right for us. uh,

to, to scare and dislike right out of the, that's

not good. Right. Um, so I don't have sigma six,

but outside of that, I've got all of GI Joe,

but past that, I don't have a huge, um, I don't

keep a lot of DVDs. I never bought a lot of DVDs

cause I even, um, I just didn't want to wind

up carrying it all around. I have movies that

I really love and mean something to me, or shows

that I really love and mean something to me,

but it's a small box when it's all packed up,

so. Yeah. It's one of the reasons that I know

at some point either I'll be gone or the services

will be gone, whatever, but it's one of the reasons

why I love digital for TV. TV whether it's live

action animation and movies because I don't have

to have a whole stack a whole Right a whole apartment

full of Funko pops now instead of DVDs Like how

many of these things do you truly love enough?

Yeah have to be able to watch it a drop of a

hat on any circumstances Like I asked myself

that question because I too was looking to make

more space for for an increasingly burgeoning

GI Joe collection It's like, well, what can I

get rid of in its place? And that answer was,

there's a lot of DVDs that you really don't watch.

And so anytime I'm buying a DVD or a Blu -ray

or whatever, whatever your medium, that's a question

that I have to ask. And so it's a very short

list at this point. I have all of the critic,

but that was one. Two half seasons, so not much

of an accomplishment. Yeah, short -lived show.

Loved it. Absolutely one of my favorites. I don't

know. It's love. I can either take him or leave

him. That's another great Maurice Lamar show,

by the way. Yes, yes it is. I do remember Maurice

is in that as well, yes. Rosebud. Yes, Rosebud.

Full of country goodness and green penis. That's

terrible. I quit. So I'll see if I can find the

video for you. But since you're such a Maurice

fan, have you heard of the 7D? Oh, that was the

show about the seven dwarves. Yep. I have seen

one or two episodes of it. That was by the folks

who did Freakazoid, which is another favorite

that I haven't talked about. Holy cow. Oh man,

so many I've missed. Yep. I'll have to see if

I can find this, but Maurice LaMarche in that

show is grumpy. Okay. And he does a rendition

of In July frozen peas, it's completely different.

It's specific to the show But it's essentially

the same damn thing and I'm like, oh my god.

It's all about chicken soup. That's what it is

I'll find it later for I need to watch that again.

Oh my god. I love that show Why is that shown

on a Disney Plus you idiots? Anyway chance give

it a chance Disney Plus has been online for three

years. That's a show that they own the son of

show that they're like The outcry has to be there,

man. Yeah. Well, it's gotta be. All right. I

think I know the answer to this one, but which

cartoon or cartoons had the biggest impact on

your life? Oh, wow. I mean, obviously GI Joe

was a big one. It was my favorite. Cartoon it

was my brothers when we were growing up we're

close in age we used to play with that stuff

all together most of my very close friends were

the same way like it was their favorite show.

So that was it was a big part of relating with

them. But I mean so that's certainly on the list.

But yeah. I don't know, to a certain extent,

television's always a little bit disposable,

right? Like there's things that you watch and

you love. You know, Freakazoid was one for us

in college. A lot of great friendships formed

over introducing people, but that twisted mess.

We used to bust out the VCR for Freakazoid, because

I was oftentimes... I did a lot of stuff in college

i was in a lot of orchestras and ensembles and

bands and things like that. And then work for

the radio station on campus and all this other

stuff so i was very rarely home on saturday morning.

But i would tape freakazoid and so that that

was one that got shared with with a lot of folks

who are you know i'm still still very close to

this day so that that was one from that standpoint.

Again, I got to connect with some of those same

friends with their kids, with Phineas and Ferb.

So that's a show that has that extra, you know,

an extra soft spot for me. Again, of course,

you know, go back to the Looney Tunes we talked

about at the very beginning of the episode. Well,

you're going about it all wrong, girly. You don't

bat them on the bean with a rolling pin. That

comes later. That's time spent with Dad doing

things that... you know, at four years old that

the adults think are cool. I mean, you never

downplay the importance of those. It's a long

list, I'm sure. For most of the people that know

me well, I'm the guy that introduces them to

weird offbeat Stuff like cartoons that adults

can enjoy So there's any number of them that

I have brought up in in company and have some

kind of Some kind of moment of bonding with to

where it's it's got you know more importance

than just a normal TV show I guess So to too

long to list is the short answer Yeah, exactly.

What was the most money you spent on a cartoon

item ever could be a DVD set a cell a print etc.

I Don't have a ton of Production stuff. I don't

have cells or anything. I don't I've moved around

too much to to Like it just wouldn't be responsible

like it would be neat to have that stuff. Yeah,

I'm on the move so often This last eight ten

years of my life that it just like the upkeep

of it Just is something I cannot invest the time

or space and so I've kind of let that stuff go

but For the most part I've had good luck shopping

So if there's a set out there that was 40 or

50 bucks, that's probably the most I've spent

Do you have a my parents wouldn't let me watch

that cartoon story My parents were kind of on

the fence about GI Joe at first, until they,

again, they were cool enough to sit down and

watch it with us the first few times, and they

turned out to like it themselves. But not really.

For the most part, they did trust us, especially

after we wound up being right about GI Joe. They

kind of laid out the things. My folks were always

pretty cool. We got cable right around that same

time. I was seven, eight years old or so. And

they outlined for us what what they wanted You

know what they were what we were allowed to watch

and what they didn't want to ever catch us watching

And so we kind of stuck to that like we don't

want to we don't want to blow it we want to blow

the cool stuff at the expense of Of one taste

of forbidden fruit that and on a more irrational

side, you know, like my folks we grew up on Long

Island we're from New York and My folks could

both get very loud So we did anything to keep

them from yelling frankly, was a positive. They

never hit us, but we were always afraid that

they were going to start. That's how loud they

could get if they were mad. So that was a good

enough reason to not push those boundaries. Yeah.

You're what? Mid forties? Yes. So I'll be 43

in a couple of months Some I don't know if I'm

younger or older. It doesn't really matter. I

got you by a few years, man Okay, that's fine.

It doesn't matter. But the point is growing up

in the 80s Always they had to do is yell really

loud and just raise their hand They didn't have

to hit us all the yelling is what did it the

yelling was the punishment like Right. You don't

want your parents to - My folks didn't raise

their hand. Like that's how loud they can get.

Yeah, exactly. But like just that, that action

of potentially, and those were completely different

times, folks. We are not in those times anymore.

But the yelling, oh my God, the yelling. Oh my

God, the yelling. To this day, my sister, who

is the youngest of the four of us, like we'll

- we'll be talking with my dad and not even about,

he's not even yelling at anyone. He just gets

louder and louder as the conversation goes on

and he'll just turn to the rest of us and go,

daddy yells. Just like she did when she was three.

Just reverting back in her head to an earlier

state. That's, that's crazy. Oh, the good old

days. Those were the good old days. My dad, he

just turned 75. He is still a loud man. Probably

how many siblings does he, did he have any siblings?

He had, he was, he had a younger brother that

he was not from a large family. Okay. I was going

to say my mom was one of, she's the fifth child

of six children. So, yelling in that family is

like the only way you're going to be able to

be heard over every other child. My grandparents,

all four of them were from large families. As

far as my two parents, they were not. Nor not

from super big families. Again, my dad had a

brother, my mom had two brothers. That wasn't

anything crazy. Yeah, but again, it was that

generation of... Shout or else you won't be heard

kind of thing Shout so they know to feed you

well that too As we just throw everything in

the dust bowl what the hell what the hell absolutely

Oh boy. What is your opinion of cartoon reboots?

Which ones do you think have been the most successful?

I don't mind reboots. I like for when they have

something different to say. GI Joe will take

that as, because those are the ones I'm most

intimately familiar with. Like Resolute was okay.

I liked Resolute, but I didn't love it. It just

didn't do enough different. Right like it was

just the same old same old and that's great for

some like some guys. That's all they want Is

this romanticized hyper action? Version of GI

Joe that was going on in their heads that didn't

actually happen And that's what that's what resolute

was, you know, so okay if that's your thing great

But I think resolute missed on a number of opportunities

One of which making storm shadow an actual character

and not just some giggling psychopath like they

portrayed him. Anyways, moving on. But from about

the same time frame, I think Renegades was a

great reboot of G .I. Joe. Yeah, it was. Because

it lets you take characters that were very similar

to the ones we were familiar with, if not the

same, obviously, but similar, and put them in

a brand new set of circumstances. And I think

it's just... The tragedy of that show is that

it was dead when it hit the air, canceled before

it ever saw daylight. But then it got out there

and actually was well received and well rated

for the hub network and they had nowhere to go

with it because they had already shut it down.

Yeah, they had already shut it down and then

they were being shut down. Right. Then not too

far down the road, they were getting the windows

boarded up and kicked off to discovery or whatever

it was. So, it can be done well. Thundercats

was a good reboot. I've made fun of the original

Thundercats cartoon on this show already. But

that reboot they did in 2011 was really good.

I'll say that the He -Man reboot from 2003, 2004

suffered from the same problem as the old filmation

show did, that they would build these... Well

layered complex stories and well layered complex

characters and then all of their problems would

be solved by him and shoving something over.

So. So yeah same same show essentially that's

that's a bad reboot right now. It's not. It is.

It is. It isn't. It isn't. And the reason why...

No, it isn't, Mike. I'm telling you, man. It

isn't. I watched that one, man. I understand

you. I understand you've watched it and I'm more

than happy to accept your opinion of it. And

I'm not trying to say you're wrong. What I'm

saying is it's not a bad reboot. The reason why

it's not a bad reboot is because it... Played

on the mythology it told stories that we never

saw in Filmation it told an origin straight gave

an origin to Skeletor with Keldor and and randor

and all that stuff and he's his uncle and whatever

else and all What is the tragedy of that show

is it got cut short? at 39 episodes after two

seasons and that you know Every problem got solved

by you man pushing something over or throwing

a rock at it. All right. Which cartoon series

from the past would you most want to see more

of, whether it be a reboot, live action movie,

or any other form of media? Hmm. Hmm. I mean,

obviously, I cannot in good conscience sit here

as a longstanding host of a GI Joe podcast and

not take this opportunity to stump for a new

GI Joe animated program. I think that's the medium

that best fits that property. Um, I don't think

the live action stuff has legs. Like it's, it's,

it's too, it's too big. Like there's no way you

can cover all the bases you need to cover to

keep your fan base happy. Right. And in two and

a half hours, or even if you did a TV show, Like

two and a half seasons isn't enough. You've just

got a lot of characters and a lot of plot threads

and a lot going on. It's not gonna work live

action real well. I think if you've got all that

in an environment that you can control 100 %

in its entirety, as you can with animation, I

think that translates better. Would Let's see,

what else do we have obviously? The world did

not get nearly enough freakazoid Yeah, it would

be a fan. It would be fantastic to see more freakazoid

The tick has been given a couple more go -arounds

in live -action and those of I've liked all of

them I liked I love the animation of the first

one I liked the Fox version of the live action

show. I liked the Amazon version that came a

couple years ago. I don't think it got enough

of a, it got enough of a, of a push frankly.

But I would love to see a continuation of the

original animated show. I think that was, I still

think that one was the best one of the three.

Because again, you're dealing with fantastic

stuff and the best way to I just think the best

way to do that, if you're not going to spend

the quarter of a billion dollars on a big budget

movie, is to do that with animation. To see two

reboots come and go by the wayside, I would love

to see a reboot for The Tick hang around and

be as successful as that first show was. Yeah,

absolutely. And the one thing I would love to

see if that happens is you have to find a way.

So obviously Townsend Coleman is the voice of

the original tick, but you have to find a way

if you were to bring that animated series back

today, you got to find some sort of weird multiversal

way to bring in Warburton as another tick. Cause

having Coleman and Warburton together, that show

would print money. That would be fun. Absolutely.

All right, we alluded to it earlier, but what

is your opinion of the cartoon sidekick, Snarf,

Orko, Scott Tracker, et cetera, love them, hate

them, or just don't care? I think they have to

have a purpose. I mean, past comic relief. Yeah.

Comic relief sidekick just wears out their welcome.

But I think sidekicks in general can be... really

great devices. Obviously I'm somebody who came

on and said that the best character, his favorite

character in all of animation is Dick Grayson.

So yeah, you know, sure. Sidekicks are great,

but I don't think Snarf was as bad as some of

the other ones you've listed. Um, he was annoying,

but he did have a purpose, right? Like he was

there to, he was the babysitter and he was very

much. a fish out of water when all this adventure

stuff would start going on. He's essentially

some middle -aged guy on the couch who suddenly

gets thrown in the middle of these sword fights

and laser battles. So I get where Snarf's coming

from. He's a little weirdo who talked and whined

too much, but I can't say that given the same

circumstances, I wouldn't be doing the same thing.

So I'm going to give Snarf a little bit of a

break on that. You know, but on the whole, if

all you've got is just some kid to hang around

or some pet to hang around to just do nothing

but get in trouble and foul up the works, then

you don't have much of a show to begin with.

So I guess on the whole, I'm a fan of... backup

characters or assistants or, you know, secondaries,

if you will, but not so much just sidekicks for

the sake of sidekicks. Yeah, exactly. In your

opinion, which decade represents the golden era

of cartoons and why? 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s,

2000s or 2010s? The golden age? Mm -hmm. I mean...

I think you missed it because I think it's the

forties. Forties, yeah. Yeah, that's when we

talked about Looney Tunes, man. That's when those

were just in their heyday. That was when all

the greats happened. Here, let's see that thing.

Well, I guess I'm the goat. You're a dirty dog.

And you are a dirty skunk. I'm a dirty skunk?

I'm a dirty skunk? Brother, am I a pigeon? Look,

pal, what you need is a little briefing. Let's

go over here and talk private for a minute. It

was when Disney was doing its best stuff. Take

that, you scoundrel! Help! Robin, help! Marion,

my love, will you marry me? Oh, darling, I thought

you'd never ask me. Oh, but you could have chosen

a more romantic setting. And for a honeymoon,

London, Normandy, sunny Spain... Why not? Yeah,

yeah, no, I don't think you've got that clock

going back far enough. I think that's... Well,

it can only list so many decades, but I have

since added it to the list. Right? Right? Just,

just, just short, tighten that, tighten that

question up. Which decade do you think best represents

the golden age? And people figure it out. I think

it's the 40th. I think it's, everything that's

come since then is essentially standing on those

shoulders. So I think that makes it the golden

age. Pretty much. Yeah. Except the eighties though,

the eighties is kind of a standout because they

kind of broke the mold and created something

like we're still standing on. the shoulders but

in general i think you are going to go with if

it look in terms of quality obviously i'm an

eighties kid too so that's what i'm that's my

favorite yeah i'm not saying quality i'm just

saying like if we wouldn't be here almost forty

years later. Talking about. Whether we like or

dislike he man or transformers or jr or whatever

if they hadn't started it when they started.

when we were kids and it impressed us i completely

agree with you as far as golden age being forties

and earlier because like like we said the looney

tune stuff basically you know set the bar are

you nuts why if he's dead then i'm a mongoose

More briefing more briefing right, right? I think

it's like we have a golden age But that's the

40s and I think we have a silver age, which is

the 60s When Hannah Barbera started, you know

taking over television, you know with with animation

and I think the 80s would would land as a bronze

age Interesting I think that's that's very much

how those It's kind of the beginning of a new

cycle, you know, the golden age of Cybertron

has come again. Sorry, bros. As much as I love

the eighties, I can't deny that it's not a more

cynical one. It's the beginning of animation

used to sell toys. You know, you know, animation

as part of a multimedia campaign to to, you know,

take money from children. Whereas, you know,

what happened in the seventies and the sixties

was not sure there were yogi bear dolls out there.

But, you know, there was not an entire line of

yogi bear action figures with tanks and jeeps.

So, you know, there's maybe a layer of cynicism

on there that tarnishes that silver into a bronze.

But you're right. I don't think you can deny

the impact of the 1980s on pop culture as a whole,

frankly. Especially in animation. Yep, and all's

I can imagine is Mr.. Ranger sir. I found this

tank, and I now have to drive it down the forest

Yogi Bear Mr. Ranger I'd get out of the ranger

station. Mm -hmm if I were you Move on move it

on. Thank thank God. They didn't do it Yogi Bear

his tank Give it time No No, don't and stop All

it all comes around if it leave if it lasts long

enough, it'll all happen. That's true 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?

I mean, that's an opinion that was shared by

none other than the CEO of Disney until last

week when they kicked his ass out. I think animation

is just an art form. It's like any other art

form. It can be for folks of all ages. It can

be for specific audiences. You know like Sesame

Street is a live -action kid show. It doesn't

mean that all live -action shows are for kids

Right same thing with animation, you know, you

can have an animated kid show, but you all have

to be for kids I wouldn't I wouldn't let any

child under the age of 12 watch Rick and Morty.

That's for sure And even then if they're in that

teenage in the teenage years, I'd probably make

sure I was in the room I wouldn't let any child

watch Rick and Morty unless they were 21 or over.

It's taking range for that kind of thing. I guess

it just depends on what level of uncomfortable

question that I'm willing to answer that night.

Exactly. But no, I think if your statements like

that are just unnecessary gatekeeping, right?

I think people really want to consume in the

way that they want to consume it. So yeah, absolutely.

And the question is, is because of everything

that happened in the eighties with, Oh my God,

children should not be watched. You know, all

the stuff with cartoons and kids. That's why

the question is there. The question, like usually

everyone that answers that question is, is basically

the simple answer is kind of what you've given

in a roundabout way is basically cartoons are

for everybody. Like there are various versions.

There are various whatever else and yeah, I'm

not into I I don't want to keep up with your

gates knock it off like Right. We've wax poetic

about Phineas and Ferb which is a show that was

on the air when we were in our 30s Exactly quote

kid show that was on the air when we were in

our 30 Yep. All right. We are now entering the

cartoon fantasy funland. That's right, folks.

All of these questions are fictitious and really,

you know, it's kind of like Drew, Drew Carey

says, you know, the questions are made up and

the points don't matter. Awesome. So if you could

own any vehicle featured in any cartoon, which

would it be and why? Hmm. Hmm. I mean, is...

Ooh, Batmobile is a tempting one. But you know

what, I'm gonna go other super friends. I'm gonna

say the Supermobile. And I mean the flying thing

with the fists. Because that is just crazy enough

to be incredible. Jesus. Yeah, yeah it is. The

Supermobile is madness personified and I love

it. That's awesome. Now I have to preface question

26 because some people are take it too literally,

but you can breathe. So don't worry about it.

But if you could live in any cartoon world that

you wanted, where would you live and why? Hmm.

You know what? I think, I think maybe GI Joe

made that much of an impression on me that I'd

pick that one. Yeah, but you have Cobra Commander

and Destro trying to screw your life up every

day Yeah, but there's very like they're very

clearly defined as the bad guys Right. It's that

that's okay. Like there's always gonna be bad.

We're always gonna Yeah Every day each and every

one of us fights the fight of good and evil whether

we want to admit that or not Or we want to admit

those kind of stakes in the things we do every

day or not that it's there Okay So the fact that

those are so clearly delineated in the GI Joe

world is actually a plus. You know, it's a, you

know, I would get to still like, I'd get to grow

up and actually be an adult and think adult things.

And yet at the same time, um, you know, the,

the, the consequences of my actions would be

very clean and clear and laid out before me and

the fight to do good. would be very easy to figure

out. So you know what, that GI Joe universe has

a lot of big pluses on it. Yes, yes it does.

All right, so you are a... Or were a trombone

player, you are a musical person. So this is

going to be interesting to hear what your answers

would be. Who would be your top three tune pals

to join you and become a quartet? So you're one

fourth and you get to pick three cartoon character

pals. Now are we forming a band or are we just,

just. Yeah, it's a barbershop quartet. Okay.

Alrighty. Hmm. I have to think because you know,

most of the shows that I've watched there. Can't

say that the characters are terribly musically

inclined. I Didn't say it was it gonna be a good

barbershop quartet Probably be the best singer

out of them all but like which characters would

you bake? Fair enough. I'm trying to think of

who's got just just butter like voice quality

I'm gonna take principal Lewis from from American

dead Mm -hmm, because that is Kevin Michael Richardson

at his Kevin Michael Richardson butteriest. Yep

That is a fine. That is a fine base to put your

quartet on Yep, and you know, we just hadn't

talked enough about Kevin Michael Richardson

yet. Oh, of course not. We had not I'm gonna

I'm gonna I'll go with Brian Cummings So where

that would be a dr. Mindbender plant there Okay,

he's a musical guy. Yep He even had that episode

where he was, he devised that organ to mess with

those emotions and it was pretty batshit crazy

stuff. So Dr. Meinbender's proclivity towards

music gets him in the group. You gotta have somebody

who can arrange, so that's a positive right there.

Plus the dental plan would be great. Let's see,

it's got to be another guy, because at this point,

if I added a female character, it would just

be, it would just turn into a big sausage fest

and we don't want that. Like all dudes hanging

around together, then things are okay, but you

get three guys and one girl and then, then, then

lines get drawn. Yeah. Yeah. It's not good. I'm

going to take that mumbly guy from the hillbilly

bears, just cause he's not, he doesn't get a

lot of work these days. Probably that surprised

me that and we know he plays a bass. So yeah,

or he plays a bucket with a string attached to

it or something. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, if

you can play that, you're a better musician than

me, man. All right. So list them off again. You

got the professor, the doctor, and then help.

Okay. The mumbling bear. That's probably the

most in bear. That's probably the most unique

answer to that question at this point and when

you mentioned Kevin Michael Richardson I'm like,

oh cool. I know what he's gonna follow it up

with he's gonna follow it up with Am I blue?

He's gonna follow it up with Kevin Conroy May

the man rest in peace because Kevin Conroy has

one of those singing you don't know like people

don't know like until they realize and watch

this little piggy from Justice League Unlimited

when Cersei is like I want something from you

that can never like you hide so well that it

can never be, you know, gotten back to you. And

then all of a sudden just Kevin Conrad stage

and just starts. Wonderful. Oh, great episode.

Absolutely. That Bawana beast. Yeah, it did for

about half a second. Hey, man, that's a lot of

work for that guy. Yeah, it was it was one of

my people That's right If you could date any

cartoon character, which one would it be and

why? Oh man Any one of them, you know what? I'll

pull it back to I'll put myself in the Lady J

camp Okay, awesome very cool she's hot but she's

regular people That's, that's true. It's very

true. Running around in old leotard. Now she

wears actual clothes like a normal person. Yeah.

Yeah. She's no chitara. I don't know. Does GI

Joe have a specific, I guess the mass device

would be it, but. What is the holy grail of cartoon

artifacts? The Sword of Omens, the Matrix of

Leadership, the Power Sword, et cetera. I don't

know what the cartoon artifact from G .I. Joe

would be. I don't think there is one. I think

the fact that they're trying to manufacture them

was enough of a plot point. Because even the

daily episodes always came down to either Cobra

found this mad scientist willing to work with

them. or Dr. Mindbender invented something, or

they kidnapped somebody who was working on this.

And so, you know, the cartoon artifact was very

much in a state of flux for G .I. Joe, we'll

just leave it at that. But cartoon artifact,

mmm. I mean, I know I don't like He -Man, but

that sword. That sword might be it man. I mean

you just you raise it in the air and you chant

some magic You know what? No, I'm gonna I'm gonna

go the other way. I'm going super friends with

this. It's Green Lantern drink I almost forgot

about him because you know, he's not one of the

five big super friends So you kind of forget

about him, but he's there but Green Lantern is

the is the is the winner And Super Friends, wasn't

that Hal? Yes. Yeah, Hal's forgettable. He wasn't

Super Friends, that's for sure. But even, you

want to go John Stewart? Better character, certainly.

His ring is the same ring. Yep. It's always the

same ring. It's just a better person in the ring

after each one. Better character, yeah. Absolutely.

Absolutely. All right. We are now exiting the

cartoon fantasy funland. Yay. I still need a

voiceover for that. I don't know what the hell

I'm doing for that thing. It's all right. I mean,

again, hosting a two bit slime show for 11 plus

years. So whatever. Slime, you say? Is there

a pit around? Chuck Mossman in it headfirst.

Or Grizzlore, that's who it was, with all that

hair. Oh, God. Green slime and brown hair. No,

no, that doesn't mix. What is one piece of advice

you'd give the cartoon fandom in general? Relax

a little. Yep. You know, you take this stuff,

so many of you take this stuff so seriously.

And you refuse to accept any kind of changes

to the source material. You want the same thing

as what you got 20, 30, 40 years ago. But then

when you get the same thing, you complain about

that too. Just relax. Just let creative people

create things. And if you like the new thing,

then you can take that with you. And if you don't,

you can just leave it where it lays. And that's

fine. You're not wrong if you like it better.

You're not wrong if you don't like it at all.

You're just a different person with different

tastes than the person sitting next to you. But

let's just relax and maybe have some fun with

this again. What bothers me more about cartoons

here in the age of Twitter, we'll call it, provided

that's still a thing by the time this episode

makes it to air. But But you know provided some

some grandiose fuck -up hasn't happened to shut

the whole thing down Well, I mean he is a musky

cologne, you know Stop You know, we just we we

all think we have this this this microphone in

front of us that lets us like our voice is just

the only one that's important and and You know,

so everybody has to hear it and the whole world's

going to rally up behind you because you're just

that damn right and none of that is going to

happen. Absolutely none of it. So just, just

relax and, and maybe just if you take a half

an hour to watch a silly cartoon show, you know,

it, it, it, if you don't like it, don't watch

the next one. If you do like it, maybe watch

the next one. and kind of go with it from there

and just, just relax. It's just television. It's

just a movie. It's all make believe and we all

get to have our own make believe. Ladies and

gentlemen, the embodiment of Mr. Rogers. The

man was a genius. Yes, yes he was. All right,

that's going to do it for us. We're going to

go to a quick ad break. But before we do, would

you like to be on the Origins episodes here at

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.com with the subject line, Tooncast Origins

guest spot. You must have one year or more of

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computer or Mac, whatever, whatever Apple's calling

the Mac these days. Macintosh, Apple This, Johnny

Appleseed, I don't even know. I think they're

called Macs. Yeah, something like that. We're

going to go to a quick break. You're going to

hear some ads and some other stuff. You're probably

going to hear a very, very old, old What's On

Joe Mind ad, and we'll be back after this. Hey,

I'm Gary. I'm Mike. I am Chuck. And I'm Justin.

Join the four of us every week on the internet's

number one and longest running G .I. Joe podcast,

What's On Joe Mind? It's Joe news, reviews, and

interviews, like you've never heard them before,

delivered right to your MP3 player. Our guests

include Jason Marsden, Kevin Michael Richardson,

and Matt Yang King from G .I. Joe Renegades,

Larry Hama, Robert Adkins, and John Barber from

IDW Publishing, and many more from around the

online Joe community. Yeah, it's guys talking

about Joe. Think of it as Joe Talk meets Sports

Talk, and we make fun of Chuck. Right, and we,

hey, again? Come on, Chuck. We're just kidding,

kinda. Sometimes Chuck makes fun of himself.

Right, and we... Okay, seriously, this is just

getting ridiculous now. It's What's On Joe Mind

every week on the Geekcast Radio Network. Inside

Pulse .com, Stitcher Smart Radio, and iTunes.

Download and listen today. I suppose I still

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Good grief. What about sports? Yeah, that's alright.

Do you like retro cartoons? Then Saturday morning

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Go to SaturdayMorningRewind .com. And be prepared

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are back here on Tooncast with Mike Irizarry

from What's On Joe Mind, and What's On Joe Mind?

What is that? I don't even know anymore. Well,

it's still pretty much the same thing. We are

all about what's happening in the world of G

.I. Joe. We're primarily a news show, although

sometimes we do interviews and sometimes we do

spotlights on various pieces of the property

over the years. And yeah, we've been doing it

for, it'll be 12 years in April. And most of

it we have been proud to be aligned with the

fine folks at the GeekCast Radio Network. Absolutely,

absolutely. We've kind of, we've twisted and

turned and there's been some cast changes over

the years and some even some format changes over

the years. You can find us every Friday night

on YouTube. Uh, we are, uh, we do what we call

the team stream, uh, every Friday at 9 PM Eastern,

uh, where you can see me and, uh, Joe Colton,

who is the queen of GI Joe cosplay and the co

-hostess with the co -hostess, uh, and Mark Weber,

who is a former head of, uh, marketing for the

GI Joe branded Hasbro. So lots of expertise there.

And then sometimes my brother, Rob, who is, uh,

and a comic book savant. and has forgotten more

about comic books in general than I have ever

learned. He steps in and helps us out a lot of

weeks. But anyways, it's a fun time. We're usually

doing it for two hours. We still do take the

audio from that and post it to our Podbean site.

So if you're just an audio listener, that is

there for you too. And those episodes post every

Monday. So if you don't want to change up your

listening habits, and going from YouTube, although

I do have to say that sometimes the reason we

went to video was because we just got tired of

trying to figure out a method of posting photos

with audio podcasts. There just comes a point

when you can't do that and sync it up terribly

well. Anyways, so we do the full video cast on

Friday. It gets over to our Podbean site on Monday.

It is every week. We would be thrilled if you

joined us. It's about two hours a time every

week, which is usually between an hour and a

half and two hours. We usually run closer to

two. Again, live on Friday, and then recorded,

of course, in perpetuity on YouTube. You can

find us there at WOJM What's on Joe Mind. You

can also find us on Facebook with the same, same

titling, WOJM What's on Joe Mind. Uh, we are

at W O J M podcast on Twitter. We are at what's

on Joe mine on Instagram. Um, and, uh, and wherever

we got a tick tock account, although we don't

do much with it, I mean, it's, it's basically

just short clips to, to, to get you to, to click

over to the big program on YouTube. Uh, but we'd

be thrilled to join us. We got over 1100, uh,

subscribers. Uh, and growing a couple more every

day, little by little, bit by bit. Um, it's been,

uh, some, you know, something of a, of a journey.

Cause, uh, we were, we were very popular six

or seven years ago. You know, we, we, we were

doing audio only when there weren't a whole lot

of other folks doing GI Joe podcasting, uh, 20,

25 ,000 hits per episode. There's some, some

of the download figures. on our older episodes

is just insane. We certainly don't do that anymore.

It's much more of an intimate affair with the

team stream. Again, we do have over 1 ,100 subscribers

there. We've got another 300 or so through Podbean.

We like to think what we're doing is still pretty

relevant. If you like GI Joe, if you don't mind

the occasional foray into other subjects, You

know, we are all wrestling fans, so occasionally

we'll start blabbing about pro wrestling. I mean,

how can you not be a GI Joe podcast and talk

about pro wrestling? Because hello, Sergeant

Slaughter, let's go. It's natural crossovers.

Exactly. We are all baseball fans, so occasionally

we'll start talking about sports, and I know

that's pissed off people in the past, but whatever.

We don't stick to it for very long. We are, first

and foremost, primarily a GI Joe news show. Uh,

so if, if that's a property that you're into

and you want to come by and, and blab with us,

uh, we'd be glad to have you stop on in Friday

nights, 9 PM on YouTube, on the team stream.

Very cool. Very cool. Subscribe today. That's

right. Subscribe, like comment, you know, all

that, all that good stuff. All the big boy YouTube

things. Yep, exactly. All right, Toonsters. As

always, we 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

to do so. Visit the website, geekcastradio .com,

where you can listen to and comment on all of

our content. Send us email, as I mentioned before,

to feedback at geekcastradio .com. Here always,

you can listen to us. Nowadays, Apple and Google

podcasts. Leave us reviews, please. Spotify and

any other podcasting client you choose to use.

Follow us on Twitter at GCR and TuneCast and

at TuneCast Beyond for the show. I am at TF2

and Mike. You can also follow at GeekCast Radio

for the network. Become a fan on Facebook. Go

to facebook .com slash GeekCast Radio Network.

You can also look for TuneCast, all tunes all

the time over there as well. We hope you enjoyed

this surprising episode of TuneCast here in December

of 2022, because I did not plan. I'm doing any

more episodes for the year, but we hope you enjoyed

it. And for next time, I have no clue what we're

doing. I've started actually doing, which I may

have to have you back for this, which means you'll

have to make a list. Your top 10 tunes, your

favorite top 10 tunes. I had a guy, a buddy of

mine, Tim Nidale, who does Saturday Morning Rewind.

I started this with him and it's going to be

an expansion of what the origins already are.

I'm like, I want people's personal top 10 lists,

so. Okay. Are we talking series or are we talking

episodes? Just overall series. Oh, thank God.

Okay. All right. Yeah. It's animated series or

films, so. Fair enough. As long as it's animated,

it doesn't matter. Yeah, no. Episodes, are you

kidding me? Oh yeah. Well, I drive people insane

trying to choose 10 episodes of just one or multiple

shows. Like Mike, you've been doing this for

14 years. You've had some ambitious projects.

I felt the need to clarify. Yes. Well, I mean,

we just finished top 100 transformers characters

last year. And at this point next year, we're

going to be doing the top 100 toy countdown.

So Oh boy, that's gonna be interesting. Yep.

So for now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Thank you

for listening and join us next time. And oh yeah,

unleash the tune in you. I just knew I was going

to like this! You're beautiful. Nerd ain't no

piñata!