Must...stay...awake...cartoons are on
Man, today has been one of those days where been incredibly tired for no reason. I slept good last night, but when I woke up this morning, it felt like I hadn't slept at all. I blame diet...except, on the whole, I've been eating better and I've greatly reduced my caffeine intake.
I dunno...maybe it's just getting older...
Chad's recent comments about afternoon cartoons made me nostalgic for childhood (that and that 'getting older' feeling). I miss the good ol' days of coming home from school, and turning on the tube. The lineup in the afternoons rocked. Sometimes, it was He-man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers all in one afternoon. And, having plenty of Transformers toys and G.I. Joe toys around, my brother and I could literally 'play along' with the episodes. That was fun...however, changing a transformer from vehicle to robot mode always took us a lot longer than it did on TV, dang it. And it was a little frustrating that the robots didn't quite look like their cartoon counterparts. But, no matter...it was still fun.
A couple of years later, the afternoon lineup changed, but was still good. First, Thundercats. Cool sword...goofy cats, but when you're 13, they were still cool. Then, Robotech. I always felt a little 'uncomfortable' watching that show, since it was really Japanese prime-time anime toned down for American cartoon audiences. It was gritty, but hypnotic. And, like any good cartoon, featured giant robots. After that, it was time for the "filler" show "Tranzor Z." What a stupid show, which also made me uncomfortable, because there was this giant gold "girl" robot whose boobs were really missiles. I feared women for years because of that, I think (j/k...hehe). Then, the grandaddy cartoon of them all came on at 5:30...Voltron. Okay, goofy premise...a plot involving big robotic "space lions" that combined to form a giant robot with cool weapons..."form blazing sword." Anytime that sword was formed, you knew the enemy 'ro-beast' was toast. Then at 6:00, life returned to normalcy...and boredom.
Fortunately, my brother and I had the Matchbox die-cast "Deluxe Voltron Set," so the action could continue. My only beef with the toy is that it didn't come with ANY weapons. So we had to make them out of wood, or whatever... Also, there were no cool robeast toys (at least none in the same series that looked cool), so we wound up pitting our Voltron avatar against other robot nemeses...like the Decepticons from transformers. Hehe...ol' Megatron was no match for Voltron.
I saw a Voltron on ebay a month or so going for over $200. Heck, that's cool...it was $50 new in 1986. Maybe it's time to scrounge the old one out of the attic at my parents' house...
What do today's kids have? Sometimes, it's the same things we grew up with, only 'goofier' versions. Browsing any cartoon lineup, you're still going to find Transformers...hehe. Although, now it's called "Transformers: Armada," or something like that. There are also new versions of X-men and Ninja Turtles shows on TV. And Gundam is kinda like Robotech.
But I'm sorry for the other crappy cartoons that kids today think is cool...shows like Pokemon...Digimon...DragonBall Z...Power Rangers (the suckiest of all)...
All I know is that Voltron could've kicked any Power Ranger or Pokemon butt any day of the week... form blazing sword, and knock the -mon of the Poke...
Yes, I'm still a geek...
KEY PHRASES: "The plague has returned." "Personally, I'm glad that they replaced Sven with the Princess." Waitress at Logan's to Kyle and J-mo: "Are y'all together?" Kyle: "Um...no...what?"
I dunno...maybe it's just getting older...
Chad's recent comments about afternoon cartoons made me nostalgic for childhood (that and that 'getting older' feeling). I miss the good ol' days of coming home from school, and turning on the tube. The lineup in the afternoons rocked. Sometimes, it was He-man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers all in one afternoon. And, having plenty of Transformers toys and G.I. Joe toys around, my brother and I could literally 'play along' with the episodes. That was fun...however, changing a transformer from vehicle to robot mode always took us a lot longer than it did on TV, dang it. And it was a little frustrating that the robots didn't quite look like their cartoon counterparts. But, no matter...it was still fun.
A couple of years later, the afternoon lineup changed, but was still good. First, Thundercats. Cool sword...goofy cats, but when you're 13, they were still cool. Then, Robotech. I always felt a little 'uncomfortable' watching that show, since it was really Japanese prime-time anime toned down for American cartoon audiences. It was gritty, but hypnotic. And, like any good cartoon, featured giant robots. After that, it was time for the "filler" show "Tranzor Z." What a stupid show, which also made me uncomfortable, because there was this giant gold "girl" robot whose boobs were really missiles. I feared women for years because of that, I think (j/k...hehe). Then, the grandaddy cartoon of them all came on at 5:30...Voltron. Okay, goofy premise...a plot involving big robotic "space lions" that combined to form a giant robot with cool weapons..."form blazing sword." Anytime that sword was formed, you knew the enemy 'ro-beast' was toast. Then at 6:00, life returned to normalcy...and boredom.
Fortunately, my brother and I had the Matchbox die-cast "Deluxe Voltron Set," so the action could continue. My only beef with the toy is that it didn't come with ANY weapons. So we had to make them out of wood, or whatever... Also, there were no cool robeast toys (at least none in the same series that looked cool), so we wound up pitting our Voltron avatar against other robot nemeses...like the Decepticons from transformers. Hehe...ol' Megatron was no match for Voltron.
I saw a Voltron on ebay a month or so going for over $200. Heck, that's cool...it was $50 new in 1986. Maybe it's time to scrounge the old one out of the attic at my parents' house...
What do today's kids have? Sometimes, it's the same things we grew up with, only 'goofier' versions. Browsing any cartoon lineup, you're still going to find Transformers...hehe. Although, now it's called "Transformers: Armada," or something like that. There are also new versions of X-men and Ninja Turtles shows on TV. And Gundam is kinda like Robotech.
But I'm sorry for the other crappy cartoons that kids today think is cool...shows like Pokemon...Digimon...DragonBall Z...Power Rangers (the suckiest of all)...
All I know is that Voltron could've kicked any Power Ranger or Pokemon butt any day of the week... form blazing sword, and knock the -mon of the Poke...
Yes, I'm still a geek...
KEY PHRASES: "The plague has returned." "Personally, I'm glad that they replaced Sven with the Princess." Waitress at Logan's to Kyle and J-mo: "Are y'all together?" Kyle: "Um...no...what?"
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