Josh the Floor Burger on Cartoon Origins and Favorites

Hi, this is Matt Hill, the voice of Captain N,

the Game Master, and you are listening to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Good rain here. I like

listening to ToonCast while trying to take over

the world. Hello and welcome to ToonCast. This

is episode 302. That's right, folks, 302 episodes.

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

we have the origins of toonster Josh the Floor

Burger. Hello, sir. How are you? Oh, hey. It's

been a little bit of a time since I last heard

your intro. It actually kind of threw me off.

I had to take my headphones off for a second.

This is not the normal. This is not the intro

you're used to. This is not the intro you're

looking for. Different show. I totally got thrown

off. Yeah, this is not true. And since we were

talking... a little bit about Star Wars before

we got into recording. Mm -hmm. Yes. We call

that a segue. I don't like writing those things.

I fall off of them. All right, so this is all

about cartoons, 30 questions, and yeah, did you

grow up watching cartoons, and what were some

of your earliest cartoon memories? First answer

is yes. Second answer is what are my earliest

memories? I should have taken my ginkgo biloba

ginseng. Stuff that helps your memory because

I have the memory of a I can't remember, but

it's those things that have really bad memories.

So you're asking what is my earliest memory of

cartoons? I grew up briefly for about five years

in Chicago from birth. through about five years

old before moving. And the first half of kindergarten,

we had those half days. So you either went to

school from like eight to 12 or 12 to four, depending

on whatever your schedule was. And depending

on your parents' work schedule, in my neighborhood,

there was a rotating child care system of, hey,

three or four kids are going to go stay with

this family until school starts at 12. Yep. Or

whatever. So I would say one of my first memories

I have of cartoons, as far as I can go back,

I probably watched cartoons before this, but

was going to one house that had, I can't even

describe the smell of the house. It was just

an 80s house, but I do remember it. And they

had the whole basement set up as a daycare. I

don't know if that was on purpose or just coincidence,

but they had everything from your kitchen playset

to random toys. And we would watch Ninja Turtles

in the basement. So even when I had gotten in

trouble and I was punished and I couldn't watch

Ninja Turtles when I went to daycare, guess what

we were watching? Ninja Turtles. And that was

one of my earliest memories of. Watching cartoons,

100 % it was Ninja Turtles. I guarantee we were

also watching Ghostbusters. We were watching

G .I. Joe, Transformers. I guarantee I was watching

all of that. I just don't have memories of it.

But being born in 84, I really think that I only

started getting conscious and understanding of

things when I was like four or five. So those

are the cartoons I would say I have the clearest

memories of. Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned

Turtles, you mentioned Transformers, you mentioned

all that stuff. Were you more of a Saturday morning

cartoon watcher or after school or both? I know

you said morning or afternoon, but which did

you prefer more, weekday or weekend cartoons?

I think it really varied on my availability.

I know I loved watching cartoons before I went

off to school. I'd wake up early enough and watch

what I could. We didn't have cable until 95.

So we were reliant on any cartoons that would

be available in the Chicagoland area on Channel

26 or Channel 50 or Channel 32, which eventually

went away. I know I watched cartoons on Saturday

mornings, but my family grew up playing baseball.

And Saturdays, you either had baseball games

in the mornings, you had baseball games in the

early afternoon or at night. So if there was

a conflict there, I usually didn't get to watch

on Saturday mornings. Sunday mornings actually

were more of my personal jam. I would wake up

early. I would go into, this is before I had

my own room. I shared a room with my brother.

Sunday morning, I would get up before anybody

in my family. I'm saying 5 .30 in the morning.

And I had this old school tube TV. In order to

turn it on, you had to pull a knob out of the

TV. It had a little switch you had to pull out.

It only had eight, nine, ten channels. And I

would watch cartoons on Channel 26 and Channel

50 out by us, WFLD and WCIU. And it would be

everything from King Arthur and the Knights of

Justice to Gargoyles to Extreme Dinosaurs, whatever

was on at those times. So Sundays were sort of

my primary day for a couple of years. And then

eventually when I moved into that guest room

as my room, Sunday mornings were the morning

to watch cartoons for me. Absolutely. Yeah, Sundays

for me was all about the Three Stooges. Saturday

was cartoons. Sunday was Three Stooges. What

was your number one favorite cartoon as a kid?

I think I grew up being born again in 84, so

mid 80s. I think. Growing up in that period of

time, I ran into a lot of those cartoons that

had one or two series runs. And sometimes those

seasons, 12 to 13 to 23 episodes. Yeah. So it

would change depending on the year. I don't think

I ever had a number one favorite cartoon. I would

say the one cartoon that had the biggest impact

on me, and even still as an adult, had to be

Disney's Gargoyles. It had such a rich, deep

mythology. It went into medieval times. It went

into what the 90s viewed as sci -fi. And it was

always on at those times that as a kid I could

manage. 6 .30 in the morning, you got it. 3 o

'clock in the afternoon, I'm there for it. So

I was never really challenged to find the best

time to watch it because I just made it work.

I had so many mornings in the summer where I

would just wake up early when it was on the USA

Network. Early in the morning because they had

a block of cartoons. USA Cartoon Express. Yep.

Yeah. And Gargoyles would be on for an hour.

So I could watch that all summer, catch the first

two seasons. We don't talk about the third. 1

,000 years ago, superstition and the sword ruled.

It was a time of darkness. It was a world of

fear. It was the age of gargoyles. Stone by day,

warriors by night. We were betrayed by the humans

we had sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a

magic spell for a thousand years. Now we are

in Manhattan. The spell is broken. And we live

again. We are defenders of the night. We are

gargoyles. But I could watch the first two seasons

without any problems. And it always worked out.

So Gargoyles would probably be the one that really

stuck with me. I was about 10, I think, when

it came out. 9 or 10 when it came out. That was

the one that I was probably the most devoted

to. But I loved everything from Skeleton Warriors

to Transformers when it was in its G2 mode. When

you had the 3D transforming segues between clips.

Through the magic of the Cybernet Space Cube,

the computer attacks stories of the Transformers.

Transformers Generation 2. Wrong. G .I. Joe I

watched, but I don't think I was old enough to

really comprehend what was going on. It was just

people in crazy costumes shooting lasers at each

other. Yep. And everything in between. Wildcats

I really liked. That was a short -lived cartoon.

Toxic Crusader I watched when it was out. Ninja

Turtles. Pretty much anything in the 90s. If

it was out, I watched it for a couple minutes.

If it was more action -oriented, comedy -oriented,

The Pink Panther was a big one for me for about

two summers. They would play The Pink Panther,

I think, on WF... No. It was Channel 50. I don't

remember what that was. But they would definitely

show Pink Panther. I think it was WCIU. They

would show The Pink Panther in the morning, and

I watched two or three episodes of that in the

summer times. So it just it varied on the summer.

It varied on the year. Nothing really stuck for

more than about a year or two because that was

just the nature of TV at the time. Yeah, absolutely.

So how did your cartoon watching habits change

as you grew up and throughout your life? I know

that I watched a lot of cartoons even through

high school. I was kind of that guy that would

kind of hide that fact. Or minimize the fact

that I was watching cartoons for very long periods

of time. I know I was watching, I hate to admit

it, but Digimon in high school. But Digimon was

one of those animes that just kind of kept going

and going and going. I never really stopped watching

cartoons. It's just as my high school life, my

education life changed and I had more responsibilities.

As I started working more. I didn't have as much

time to watch cartoons. But I watched cartoons

pretty much... I never stopped. It's just my

time for them minimized. Yeah. Absolutely. How

often do you go back and re -watch any of the

cartoons you grew up with? Every Halloween, I

do try to watch Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters, there

are some... Excellent episodes that really still

hold up as far as being creepy and scary and

having a great mythology and a great story to

be told. Right. Ghostbusters, though, the animation

gets it starts off a little rough. It gets a

little better and then it gets rough again. So

I have tried rewatching that. Some of them still

hold up. G .I. Joe, I don't find to hold up very

well. Transformers, I'm sorry. but I don't find

to hold up very well. It depends on which episode.

Some episodes hold up better than others, and

I don't really like... I'm one of those people

that it was made in the time that it was made.

It's not meant to hold up to today's standards

of whatever. Oh, I totally understand that. I

will add, though, that Beast Wars, I had... rewatched

almost the entire series during covid i went

back and i was watching that uh because i was

working out my basement i needed something to

watch so i watched almost the entire series and

the animation obviously is nothing it's yeah

it's weak now it's not really weak now it's it's

more of it's The first time 90s CGI really...

It, along with Reboot, were the first 90s CGI

show type things. The story holds up. That's

always been my biggest critique of modern movies

and TV shows. I can deal with bad special effects.

I watched a lot of Doctor Who from... uh the

ninth doctor on i can deal with bad special effects

if i'm invested in the characters and i'm invested

in the story that's why beast wars always stuck

with me there's other shows that don't really

work for me as well i go back and i watch them

so i would say anything that was a cartoon that

was really just more designed to sell toys when

i go back and watch them I'm not as big of a

fan of them, and there are some people out there

in the YouTube world. I'm not going to name anybody

in particular, but they hold the lore for Transformers,

for G .I. Joe, for Mask, for these ancient but

almost divine -level properties. They hold them

as biblical stories. That's how important they

hold. Oh, well, Flintwind did this, and Hawkwind

did this. That's never been me because I always

have seen those as just 22 -minute toy commercials.

Even as a kid, I saw that. So re -watching them

is a little difficult because sometimes the stories

aren't as good as you would hope. Which cartoons

that have aired during your adulthood have you

liked the most? Oh, Rick and Morty, 100%. why

explain explain that to me because i just don't

understand it so one of the reasons i like rick

and morty is i like a broad large gigantic universe

and world that has a lore that unfolds the more

you watch it but even as you watch this lore

unfold there's still so much more there's some

aspects of rick and morty that get really into

this deep emotional sector that i think doesn't

always mesh with some of the silliness like i

i think you need to keep your silliness on a

similar level as your seriousness but when you

go from like super silly and then you get to

super serious and dark levels of existential

depression and just assessing who you are as

a person and what your purpose is in life, but

then you have the intergalactic cable network

where I can't even get into it. There's so much

to get into. There is sometimes that really wide

gap between the silliness and the seriousness.

However, as far as fun animation, clever fights

and action and sci -fi lore, And really taking

the material seriously, it works. I liked The

Simpsons for a while. I haven't watched in a

long time. I really enjoy watching early seasons

because that's what I grew up with. But by and

large, I haven't really glommed on to any other

cartoons. You know, it's funny. We're four years

away. I remember I actually was, was I, did I

go to the, yeah, I went to the premiere. In 2007,

I went to the premiere of the Simpsons movie.

One of the theaters in whatever town it was that

I was living in had the, you know, you know,

theaters do like standees and stuff like that.

But this was like, you could sit on the couch

with the cast and to have a, you know, obviously

it's, you know, it's a. And one of the things

that came out after that, after the movie came

out, or maybe it was an outtake or something,

we promise we won't wait another 20 years to

make a sequel. Well, we're four years away from

20 years since the Simpsons movie came out. Oh,

God. Yeah, I don't, I haven't. actively watched

The Simpsons since, I want to say, season four,

maybe? I don't know. I catch it here and there.

Like, if I hear, oh god, you gotta watch this

week's episode, it's this or it's this or it's

that. I've caught episodes here and there, but

anything I think past 93, I probably haven't

seen it. I have some pretty good memories of

a lot of episodes because I would come home from

school and usually catch an episode or two around

five o 'clock. They would play one, two, or three

episodes in a row. And that's just what I grew

up with, and I really enjoyed it. It would be

hard for me to specify when I really dropped

out of it, but I really do like the earlier time

period, season three, four, five, six. Yeah,

yeah, absolutely. I think season two and three

were my sweet spot at the time. 90, 91, that

area. Are there any cartoons you hate or have

been greatly disappointed by? Oh, I wouldn't

say I hate any cartoons. There's obviously cartoons

that I never got into watching. And that's either

because of my age or my preferences. It's hard

for me to say I really hate. really much of anything

in terms of pop culture or media. I always made

the joke that I hate Funko Pops. I've told you

multiple times I respect it, but I have the gimmick

of saying I hate them. That's a toy. This is

a cartoon show. Oh, no, no, I know. I'm just

giving the comparison. I'm just setting the stage.

No, I don't hate any cartoons. There's a lot

that I really did not... understand or appreciate

Spongebob was one that I just never really embraced

but it also is when I was getting away from slapstick

unusual cartoons I was already too old for that

type of media and I was kind of getting out of

cartoons as it was I think I don't remember when

Batman Beyond came out versus Spongebob I think

they were in the same realm, but I watched a

lot of Batman Beyond because I thought it was

a great Batman story. I looked at it like a comic

book, and it's the same reason why when I go

to the comic store, there were three or four

comics that I would pick up and 20 that I didn't.

So there's nothing really I hated. But as far

as any cartoons I may be disappointed looking

back at, I mean, I think if you go with the psychological,

belief that people change greatly every 10 years

once they become an adult. Let's say you become

an adult at 18 years old, whatever. Every 10

years after that, you become a brand new person.

You have a different outlook on life and a different

appreciation for so much. Yeah, there's a lot

of cartoons that 20 years ago, maybe I appreciated.

30 years ago, I appreciated. Now, I'm just like,

don't care for this as much. Ghostbusters has

a lot of episodes that I don't find as good anymore.

I'm not trying to argue with anybody who likes

them. But I look back at He -Man and Ghostbusters

and G .I. Joe's. Like I mentioned before, there

are people out there on the YouTubes and in the

message boards that hold these cartoons as important

as biblical passages. And if you stray away from

the storyline of He -Man or G .I. Joe or whatever,

you're a heretic. You look back at it, they're

not. The quality of the writing was just to support

selling toys. No, I disagree with that. Yes,

in general, that's what it was supposed to be

there for. But the quality of the writing for.

for example, since you mentioned Transformers

and He -Man, let's just say I've gone through,

my buddy Kevin and I have gone through all 130

episodes. We did that about 11 years ago or so.

It took us a while, but we did. We went through

all 130 episodes on the Powers of Greyskull series

podcast, and yes, there are some really, really

poorly written episodes of He -Man and the Masters

of the Universe, but overall, on a whole, I would

say that that show has, out of 130 episodes,

maybe half have really, really good stories to

them. Maybe. I'm not denying that there are probably

some good episodes out there. Sure. Great. There

probably are. I just look back at them, and it's

really hard for me to be intrigued, to be stimulated,

however you want to describe it, by some of those

older cartoons, and maybe it's just my reaction

to some people really being fanatical about them.

I think that's what it is. I've seen videos of

people who have been, who went after Scott Nightlake,

who did the Classics, Masters of the Universe

Classics video, and almost acting like the 1500s

battles between the Catholics and the Protestants,

because how dare you to stray away from the faith?

And I can't sell toys at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, it's a cartoon to sell

toys. Yeah. OK. Yes. At the end of the day, it

is. But and I'm not like I'm not. I can't stand

those types of people either. But I'm just saying

that there is slightly more to the writing of

the cartoon series that we grew up with than

just to sell the toys. The reason why most people,

and I think I mentioned this in the last podcast

episode, in episode 301, is that the reason why

most people feel that the 80s cartoons are 22

minutes for toys is because of all the, and I'm

not trying to be political here, whatever, whatever

Reagan instituted about No advertising to children

or whatever the hell it was. You couldn't have

toy commercials for this cartoon during its time.

Whatever the hell it was, I forget what it is

off the top of my head. That's probably why people

felt that way, and some of it is. But you can't,

not you as in Josh, but in general, people shouldn't

look at those as 22 -minute toy commercials because

there are a lot of great storytelling. points

in masters in transform like out of 98 episodes

for transformers i would say again maybe half

of those episodes for transformers are okay and

maybe a quarter of them are really good i can

probably if i was you know ion blaster to my

head if i needed to pull up my top five favorite

transformer episodes whatever because of story

it would be oh god i don't even know but like

i could probably do it if i really had to kind

of thing but i'm not on trial here you are well

i think i'm gonna be honest i this is maybe gonna

piss someone off great it'll piss someone off

i have a pretty strong feeling that if you were

to put out Transformers right now to the same

people who love it, who are rabid about it, they're

in their 30s and 40s, if you put out Transformers

to those people right now and they never had

any knowledge of it prior, but they still had

their same way of digesting information and forming

their opinions on that information, I don't know

if they'd like it as much as they claim to at

the moment. But that's just my opinion. I really

think... that the the view on pop culture and

what's out there it's hard to get anything that's

not what people think it should be but i'll leave

it there because you know we're hoping nobody

finds me on twitter x or whatever and decides

to tell me i'm wrong so let's move on who is

your end all be all favorite character from any

cartoon you can pick one hero and one villain

Alright, I'm looking around my room because I

have a lot of figures of some of my favorite

cartoon characters. And I'll be all because this

is also my favorite action figure is Flint from

Ecoforce when he was in his neon green duds fighting

pollution. And favorite villain put me on the

spot for end all be all. So I said Flint from

G .I. Joe. I think for cartoons Joker from Batman

the Animated Series. Okay. Damn it. Now we heard

that. Ooh. Technical difficulties. Let's move

on, shall we? Yeah, that's my 20 -pound phone.

Oh, Lord. Yes, Joker would be end -all, be -all

cartoon villain. Very cool, very cool. What are

some other cartoon characters you like? Are there

any that you hate? Cartoon characters I like.

I really enjoyed a lot of the characters from

Skeleton Warriors. I'm not sure if you're familiar

with the series. I feel even though that series

was supposed to be a spiritual ancestor to He

-Man, and if you compare a lot of what was going

on in that show to He -Man, there's a lot of

parallels, a lot of similarities. It's basically

as if when you're a kid and you're asking to

copy off of someone and they say, just make it

look a little bit different. Copy down my answers.

It's pretty much what Skeleton Warriors was,

but I really enjoyed the whole cast of that.

There was a short -lived Mega Man cartoon that

I really enjoyed. The Legend of Zelda cartoon

with Link as kind of a surfer dude who always

said, excuse me, princess. That was a line in

my family for as long as I can remember. When

my mom thought my brothers and I were giving

her attitude, she would just say, well, excuse

me, princess, and we pretty much shut up at that

point. But I got to argue just a little bit on

that because the way that you said it, like Link

was not surfer dude at all in that show. And

the way that you just said, excuse me, I'm like,

that's not, no, it's exaggerated. Well, excuse

me, princess. Well, I'm hoping you'll put in

the actual audio clip in the final version of

this podcast. However. I felt there was a little

surfer vibe to him, even watching back now. Okay.

Thank you, referee, for pointing that out. I

did always appreciate that character. I liked

the Botsmaster from the show The Botsmaster,

Ziv Zoolander. That is an obscure, random show

that was in reruns like crazy, and I always enjoyed

that. Goliath from Gargoyles, Elisa Mazza from

Gargoyles. Again, I'm looking around my room

for any other options. Peter Venkman from the

original Real Ghostbusters when it was written

by Michael J. Straczynski because he was a genius.

Even the short -lived, one -season, terrible

cartoons like the Chuck Norris Karate Commando

Hour. Captain Planet was amazing. As far as hating,

you asked that before. I don't really hate any

cartoon characters. And I think if you were to

ask me this as a kid, if I was 13, I'd have a

very different answer. Right now, I'm sort of

indifferent. It is what it is. I'm an adult.

I can handle things a lot differently with more

tolerance than when I was a kid. Yeah, oh, somebody,

I did some, oh, again, I think it was the last,

I think in the middle of the last podcast, I

did some quick research, and I'm like, how did

that only have five episodes, but this had, oh,

I know what it was, Chuck Norris' Karate Commandos

versus the Rambo animated series. Rambo got 26

episodes, Chuck Norris got five. But Chuck Norris

had surprisingly a very elaborate – again, I

know this is not a toy show, but the toys that

came out for Chuck Norris I think were quite

excellent and on par with Rambo. But yeah, I

don't really hate any cartoon characters of the

cartoons I chose to watch. I watched them because

I enjoyed them. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you never

know. That's why we have to ask the hard questions

around here. Who are some of your favorite cartoon

voices and or voice actors? Peter David. If you're

familiar with him, he did Goliath. You mean Keith

David. Peter David was the writer who wrote TMNT

stuff. Thank you very much. Yes. He was also

in They Live with Roddy Roddy Piper. Right. Yeah.

Got it. Yeah. Keith David. Absolutely amazing.

100%. Wonderful voice actor. Peter Welker. Again,

I'm saying Peter again. Welker. Frank Welker.

See, why do I keep going back to Peter? Peter

Cullen, maybe? At least that would be correct.

I'm just going to start giving all of these names

that start with Peter that are wrong, but the

last name is correct. Okay. Did you ever own

anything based on a cartoon, toys, comics, coloring

books, etc.? Obviously. 100%. So many toys. So

many toys based on cartoons from He -Man, Transformers,

G .I. Joe, Ninja Turtles, Bots Master. I'm just

looking at my shelf right now. Wildcats, which

is both a comic and a cartoon. Waterworld, which

that movie was basically a cartoon. Not animated.

It wasn't animated, but it might as well have

been a cartoon. Let's be honest. I can make fun

of it. Yeah, you can make fun of it all you want.

I mean, you know, it sucks. Captain Planet was

a cartoon. Centurions, Thundercats, Braveheart

I have. X -Men, the Toy Biz line, X -Men. Yep.

I'm looking at Power Rangers was an animated.

Street Sharks, Bucky O 'Hare. Toxic Crusaders.

He's got a lot of toys, folks. Biker Mice from

Mars. I'm just going from what's on display,

not even what's in storage. Biker Mice from Mars.

I don't think Barnyard Commandos actually had

a syndicated cartoon, but I have... Barnyard

Commandos, yeah. Rambo. Silverhawks. Creepy Crawlies,

that's an obscure one that I have a few pieces

from. Double Dragon, James Bond Jr., Batman the

Animated Series, I have a ton of. So, yes, I

have a lot. Let's just say yes. Go listen to

episode 102 of ToyCast, folks. You'll hear all

about Josh's toy collecting. Oh, and I haven't

even really gone into detail about it. Yeah,

well. Your favorite cartoon theme song is what?

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. 100 %

that has been on my YouTube workout playlist

at least 500 times. I don't even know if I remember

that cartoon. It's all on YouTube. It's awful.

in so many fun ways. I play it for my students.

We'll watch like five minutes of an episode of

this class every week. So I'll get that season

and last them about the next five years. Alright,

so you mentioned that. You've mentioned that

a couple of times, but you think that's bad?

I'll send you a link to the actual episode after

the show, but I want you to Compare that to a

Transformers episode, a Decepticon Raider in

King Arthur's Court. So you're laughing, but

if I can work that into my curriculum, it's going

to happen. Well, of course. Yeah, I will send

you the video after the podcast. You're laughing

hysterically like I'm going to think it's ridiculous,

but no. I embrace the ridiculous, sir. I am tenured.

I know you embrace the ridiculous, but it's just

that episode. Oh, God. That episode is just so...

Yeah. Anyway. How big or small is your animation,

DVD, or digital collection? Microscopic. Okay.

Non -existent. I think I have... I might have

season one of Gargoyles. I used to have season

one of Exosquad. I think I mailed it out to a

friend of mine. I... I think my proudest collection

of animation is actually the Muppet Babies bootleg

series. Oh, wow. So I have the entire series

of Muppet Babies on bootleg DVDs. Wow. I would

say that's about it. I think I have the Family

Guy Star Wars episodes on DVD. I don't know if

you would count Robot Chicken as cartoons. I

mean, it is animation. I don't know if you count

it as cartoons. I have a ton of Robot Chicken,

but that's about it. Yeah, that's cool. You spend

a lot of money on toys and all that kind of stuff,

but what is the most money you spent on a cartoon

item ever? DVD sets, Excel, animation print,

etc. DVD -wise, I would say the Muppet Babies

collection. I don't remember the price on it,

but I remember just deciding to splurge on it

because... It'll never come out on Disney +,

it'll never come out on any streaming service

because of the copyright issues. I just saw a

video about that. As far as cartoon items and

toys, because that's where a lot of cartoon stuff

usually went, I would say one of the most expensive

cartoon items was the Ghostbusters playset, the

Firehouse. That would probably be, and at the

time it was only $70. But I think that was probably

the most I spent on anything that was cartoon

-specific. I'd have to go through everything

again, because there's always periphery and parallel

cartoon items that we can make the argument,

like Castle Grayskull, for instance, the classic

Castle Grayskull. Yeah. Which, its original retail

was $250 back in 2011 or so. Yep. Now it's worth

way more money. Yeah. I think it would be really

hard to specifically say because I've gotten

lots of toys. I once got a bunch of Biker Mice

from Mars toys for about $100, took what I needed

out of it, and then resold a lot for about $200.

Cool. That's kind of fun, I guess. But it would

be hard to say. I would guess Greyskull or...

Yeah. Greyskull is probably the most expensive

cartoon item I own. Okay, there you go. Do you

have a my parents wouldn't let me watch that

cartoon story? Beavis and Butthead. Rightfully

so. They knew they knew of it. They knew it was

bad. They knew it was a problem. And unfortunately,

and this is back before computers and Internet.

All they did was say you're not allowed to watch

it. But I think over time, as we got older, they

just had to accept the fact that we were going

to find a way to whether we went to a friend's

house. or they weren't home, or we just found

ways to do it, or we had TVs in our rooms. And

I don't think my brothers and I really got into

it very much. I think we watched it, I think

we appreciated it, but it was more like the Nintendo

64 game you would rent and play for a little

bit, and you're like, oh, this is fun. And you'd

quickly get bored with it, and you move on, because

it just got repetitive. Yep. Absolutely. What

is your opinion on the cartoon reboots and which

ones do you think have been the most successful?

I was a huge fan of the 2012 Ninja Turtles. I

thought that was a very well done series. I thought

it was very well constructed. The writing was

excellent. The storytelling, the arcs. Everywhere

it went was great, and I was really, really sad

to see that it left. I did not think it deserved

to be canceled. I think it should still be running

to this day. It was just so well done. And I

don't know why they decided it was done. Maybe

they thought the story was done. I thought that

was really one of the better cartoons to ever

be rebooted and come out and really capture.

what nostalgia was, but also make you into new

ideas. Beyond that, I haven't watched too many

other cartoons. That was a cartoon that I really

got into as an adult. I would actually wake up

and as a routine, sort of watch it on whatever

streaming service I had at the time. And I would

watch it every morning for two or three years.

The toys were great. The show was great. Everything

else as far as reboots lately, I unfortunately

don't have a ton of time to watch and really

get into. You'd have to specify maybe an example.

Some of the cartoons that have been out in the

last 15, 16, 17, let's say almost 20 years now,

I don't necessarily consider them a reboot, certain

ones, because they're really not rebooting anything.

One just popped in my head because I saw I have

a figure of it on my shelf. Okay. DuckTales.

All right, that was a reboot. Yes. I watched

a few episodes. I think it was maybe because

I'm an adult. It just didn't catch my attention.

But I loved the cartoon as a kid. Yeah, absolutely.

It just – again, I don't have an active dislike

for things. Like I can tell you right now I hate

doing my taxes. I hate it. Yeah, right. Everybody

does. Yeah. I don't have that feeling for cartoons.

It's more just I'm not interested. I'm going

to move on. Maybe it's Zen. Maybe it's me just

being pompous, but I don't have that active negative

anger towards something. especially a cartoon

anymore, because there's people I'm going to

get on my soapbox for a second, but I totally

understand that there are people out there who

devote immense hours of their lives to these

cartoons, to voicing them, to drawing them, to

writing them, to scripting them, hoping they're

going to get to be big. For me to say, I hate

that, I feel is a little pompous of me because

I know what it's like to try to put your heart

and soul into something and it having it flop.

Yeah. I, so yeah, there's not really cartoons

I, I hate. Um, and I have to be mature enough

to know that like hatred is a very immature emotion.

So for me, like, yes, like DuckTales was a reboot.

TMNT really. It's always a new incarnation. It's

always a new spin on it. Like 2003 was a completely

different spin than the 87 series. 2012 was a

completely different spin than 2003. So I don't

consider those reboots. I don't consider Clone

Wars and Rebels to be reboots of anything because

what are they rebooting? Droids and Ewoks? No

one's going to reboot Droids and Ewoks. Like,

come on now. So I think there's a difference

between a franchise continuing on and telling

some sort of new story versus a... Generation

1 has never been directly rebooted. It's so weird.

It's just so weird. I think when it comes to

reboots, the ultimate model for what people should

follow... If they actually want a level of success,

the ultimate model of what should be followed

is the 2012 Ninja Turtles show. They pulled in

inspiration from all different versions and iterations

of the Ninja Turtles, whether it was the movies

or the cartoons or the toys or whatever. They

pulled everything in, so there's a little something

for everyone. I'll admit, I watched Armada. I

tried watching Armada. Let me rephrase that.

I tried watching Armada. It's okay. I was in

college at the time. Yeah. And typically on a

Saturday night when I would watch Toonami on

Cartoon Network, which is one of the few channels

we got in my dorm, it was on. So let's say it

was on at 7 o 'clock. Let's just say it was on

7 o 'clock. It could have been a different time,

but that's usually around the time it was on.

Yeah. Nobody's doing anything at seven o 'clock

on a college campus at seven o 'clock. You know,

we're usually eating dinner, getting ready, doing

any other number of random things. Right. Yeah.

So me, I would be sitting there watching that

cartoon block. That was 2002, 2003. It was really

classic cartoon block. A lot of good stuff. And

it had a lot of great references to stuff I liked

about Transformers. And it was great. And I watched

it, and I thought, okay, cool. Anime touch. I'm

trying to understand anime better. It was cool.

And then when it got to Energon, I was, okay,

this is back to trying to sell toys, and I'm

not really interested. What is your opinion of

the cartoon sidekick, Snarf, Orko, etc.? Love

him, hate him, just don't care either way. I

don't really care. I know what Slimer did to

Ghostbusters in a later part of the run. I know

Slimer sort of destroyed Ghostbusters. It was

kind of a Poochie and the Simpsons type of thing.

I understand the purpose that a lot of cartoon

sidekicks sort of present and provide. I'm indifferent.

Otherwise, I just know that Slimer towards the

end of Ghostbusters was one of... Wow, my cat

just knocked something over. Slimer was one of

the things that probably destroyed the Ghostbusters

series. So, not fond of... I don't hate Slimer.

I hate the writers and the producers who allowed

that to happen. Yeah. In your opinion, which

decade represents the golden era of cartoons

and why? 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s,

or 2010s? So I think my only problem with that

is trying to create bookends of just the decades.

If you ask anybody who lived through the late

80s to the early 90s, there wasn't that much

of a difference. There was that overlap of the

late. 80s into the early 90s and then I would

say around 93 94 is where you really start getting

away from what the 80s were that's just my impression

so I can't say 80s I can't say 90s for me the

sweet spot is 82 to 94 that's the sweet spot

for me there you go all right Some people view

cartoons as something for 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? Anyone. But I think

media is just how you deliver a message. Claymation,

live action, animation, whatever you want to

do, the media is just how you deliver the story

you want to tell. If you have a good story, I

don't care if it's live action, practical effects,

or if it's stop motion. I just want a good story

and something that's visually appealing to follow.

Most of the movies we watch, The Flash recently,

I didn't see it, but I've seen a lot of critiques

of it. The Flash. It should just be called a

cartoon because very little of that is actually

live action people doing things. If you watch

the making of, if you watch some of the critiques

of the animation, I'll send you a video later,

which I think is fascinating as it's actual FX

guys who do computer animation. They're watching

it. They're like, wow, this is good. This is

bad, whatever. It's fascinating. But that's the

thing is the media, as long as it supports a

good story, It doesn't matter. Yeah. If the story

is kind of weak, you're going to start focusing

more on the media. And if the media doesn't hold

up, you're going to get grumpy. So there are

so many good movies, so many good stories that

have been delivered to media that maybe doesn't

hold up as well. But because you're so enraptured

in the characters and the story, you don't care

if the effects don't hold up. Terminator 1, the

effects do not hold up. But I'm enraptured in

the story and the characters. So there are bad

cartoons. Let me rephrase that. There are badly

animated cartoons that I'll watch because I love

the story. Just like you said with Transformers.

Some of that animation doesn't hold up. But because

you enjoy the story, do you care? Most of the

time, no. But this question is more of, I remember

back in the day, like in the mid to late 90s,

when I was a teenager kind of thing, when I was

about to go through and graduate high school.

And you even had this in the 80s, too, where

these politicians or whoever it was would come

on TV and say, cartoons are for kids. Adults

should not be. That's what this question is.

Again. Who are cartoons made for? Like you said

at the beginning of this, they're made for everybody.

Because anybody can get into them, no matter

how old you are. Just because you grow up, you

may step away from watching cartoons doesn't

mean you're completely gone. Doesn't mean you

can't go back and watch cartoons you like. It's

whoever likes the... I think it's for whatever.

I'm not as concerned about... We're in a very

serious conversation. I have a cat who decides

they want to take a long walk on my keyboard.

Get over here. I don't think cartoons are for

any age group, any type of person. If they are

enraptured in the story, more power to them.

There you go. All right. On a completely different

fun land. These are five questions that are made

up and the points don't matter. If you could

own any vehicle featured in a cartoon, which

would it be? Oh, I should have prepared more

for this. You know what? I want to take a road

trip. I want to travel a long distance. I want

to be comfortable, but I want to be stylish.

I will take the party wagon from the Ninja Turtles

cartoon. There you go. All right. If you could

live in any cartoon world that you wanted, where

would you live? I would be dead in five minutes

in almost all of them. Okay, but... Cartoon,

fantasy, fun land. It doesn't matter. Okay, Captain

Planet. And here's why. Because there's a universe,

there's a cartoon where the world actually cares

about doing something to make sure that future

generations aren't going to destroy themselves.

And you have a superhero who's got unlimited

powers to make sure that happens. I'm down with

that. Give me Captain Planet, especially if it's

what's his name playing Captain Planet. David.

The guy who was War Machine. Oh. Um. Crap. That's

not his name. Dorian Harewood? No. You're talking

about Don Cheadle was not. Yeah. He did a Funny

or Die thing. Oh, okay. I don't think I saw that

one. That's interesting, though. All right. Let's

see. Who would be your top three toon pals to

join you and become a quartet? Great question.

Give me Bucky O 'Hare. Mm -hmm. Botsmaster, because

he can make more buddies. That's cheating, but

okay. Yeah, I cheated. And... You know, actually,

the one gargoyle I think I'd love to hang out

with and I think I'd have the most fun with is

Broadway. Very cool. All right. Again, reminder,

fiction. This is fiction. If you could date any

cartoon character, which one would it be? Is

my wife listening? It's fiction. Does she ever

listen to your podcasts? On occasion, I think

we'll find out for sure this time. We'll definitely

find out on this one. So as a kid, I had a massive

crush. And I think every kid at least had one

cartoon crush. I don't feel weird saying this.

It was Elisa Maza from Gargoyles. Very cool,

very cool. All right, before we get out of here

for the... I'm so relieved you're not asking

any follow -up questions on that. Like, explain

why, or... Oh, we don't need details. It's just

simple... It's bullet time questions, folks.

Your discretion is appreciated, sir. What is

the holy grail of cartoon artifacts? The Sword

of Omens, the Matrix of Leadership, the Power

Sword, etc.? As I'm looking around my room where

I have a lot of cartoon toys, which really represent

a lot of the depths of cartoon information, I

would say Ninja Turtle, Mutagen Ooze. You ooze,

you lose. We are now exiting the cartoon fantasy

fun land. Final question. What is one piece of

advice you'd give cartoon fandom in general?

To be perfectly honest, it would be to understand

that as you get older, it's okay that your tastes

change and the way you view media is also going

to change. Your brain just functions differently,

ideally. Ideally, your brain has developed enough

that it functions differently. But it's not to

hold the lore of old cartoons as close to your

heart as some people might hold religion or politics,

which is even dangerous in its own right. I think

you have to sort of understand that a lot of

the toys that if you're in your 30s or your 40s,

a lot of the toys that you have, a lot of the

cartoons you have, the cartoons were commercials

for those toys. They may have had more developed

stories than just simple toy commercials. Like,

how many times did the bridge layer show up in

G .I. Joe? Hey, Flint, all of a sudden there's

a river on our way. What should we get? We should

get the new bridge layer. Bring it in, guys.

10 episodes like that. I'm exaggerating. I'm

being hyperbolic. But I think knowing that it's

okay to get away from the lore of these things.

It's okay not to say that there's nothing better

than those. And that every iteration of Ninja

Turtles, every new iteration of Ninja Turtles

and G .I. Joe isn't killing your childhood. You're

an adult. Childhood was the shortest time of

your life. If you don't like the new media, don't

watch it. Go back and watch old Ninja Turtles.

Go back and watch old G .I. Joe. Nothing is going

to feel the same as when you're a kid. Nothing's

going to look the same. It was the first time

you experienced it. So stop taking yourself so

seriously. Sit back. Enjoy the ride. Let people

enjoy the things they want. I think the same

thing I said on my. Toy Origins podcast, but

it's just there's so many people out there who

do not want to enjoy new things because the way

you perceive them isn't how you perceive them

and you remember them as a child. It's just psychological.

Your brain is different. There's so many things

that I would say, oh, that's not the way I did

it as a kid or as an adolescent, so it's not

right. That's not the case. You're a kid. You

don't know better. You're easily distracted.

I don't know. It pretty much just comes down

to everybody needs to chill out and be a normal

human being. There you go. All right, folks.

Would you like to be on the Origins episode here

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we are back here on ToonCast. This is episode

302. I don't know what's coming up next. I have

no clue. Josh, any final thoughts before I run

through the closing? Cartoons are awesome. Enjoy

what you enjoy. Like what you like. Just don't

be a jerk. If it's got a great opening entrance,

especially in the 90s, put that on your workout

list. You'll appreciate it later. There you go.

As always, we want to thank you for joining us

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and Mike with... Josh the Floor Burger. Thank

you for listening. Until next time, oh yeah,

and unleash the tune in you. I'm concerned about

April. What is it, Raphael? A threatening note?

Worse than that. It's the check!