Kick Buttowski and Other Projects

6:06 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "i saw a kick buttowski fnf thing earlier today.... god said suffer"

I feel like I've had a few of these shows where I've sat down and watched them and wished that I could put a character in it in a better show. Sunni Gummi and Riley Daring come to mind as characters who could have a lot of interesting themes surrounding them if they were in a more serious or thought out piece of fiction.

I want to put Kick Buttowski in a better show because I feel bad for him.

6:45 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "something disdainable about the kick buttowski has an addiction, gets an intervention, is threatened with reform/military school, and everyone tries to lure him into his addiction because they fucking hate him episode."
7:07 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "it's such a fart joke show....the thing is i love the character of kick, but i think he's the only one i like"

I've never really been into the tough guy macho character, but Kick just seems like a lot of fun, likely due to the fact that he's just a little kid who puts on this act because he loves daredevil shit. It's gender to him. Despite his cool exterior, he still acts like this good kid.

6:49 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "kick as a character is kind of fun. i think it's really funny to see this small baby child with a small baby child view on life with like. a grown man voice."
6:49 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "you know that one video of snufkin being 13 and 30 at the same time that's what kick buttowski is like."

He's got this friend Gunther, who I enjoyed as well, at least when he wasn't a fart joke.

There were also a couple older guys, Razz and Hush, who I really enjoyed, and of course. Immediately assumed they were gay.

1:42 PM · Mar 25, 2021 "damn they got boy best friends in this show?"

 

 

 

 

 

They're interesting characters, at least Hush is, as during this watch, I become the unwilling mark of a certain phenomenon described on Twitter.

2:14 PM · Mar 25, 2021 "oh my god i just got tony hawked......"
2:14 PM · Mar 25, 2021 "one of the boy best friends is voiced by tony hawk."

Other than those three, I'm not super keen on anyone else. There's Kendall, who didn't really make an impression with me. Brianna was kind of fun sometimes, but you don't really think of her as much other than Kick's crazy pageant sister... Speaking of pageant sisters.

6:07 PM · Mar 24, 2021 "me: this show feels really mid and really canadian
my heart: [gets pierced by the fucking chris savino credit]"

Yeah... Unpleasant. Honestly I was never big on the Loud House either, so even with the discomfort of seeing Savino's name on this project a bunch, the show was a bit dull to me. I know the guy used to be on everything from the new Mickey Mouse shorts to The Flintstones Divorce Special, but I think the writing style from Loud House shows the most here.

7:18 PM · Mar 26, 2021 "this show really does have huge discontinuity stuff if you like. pay attention..." 

Anyway there's also Brad, who's an absolute jerk and obsessed with women in tankinis because Disney XD doesn't want to remind you what sex is.

7:12 PM · Mar 26, 2021 "brad is 17 why does he need a babysitter"
7:13 PM · Mar 26, 2021 "tankini mags"

 

Frankly I don't really have much to say about Kick. I just wish he and possibly Gunther were in a better show, Though I do have some other things to mention.

I haven't been posting a lot lately. I've been crazy focused on other projects, but some of those ARE relevant to this blog. For example, I've been active on Sporcle again, and have made a few cartoon audio quizzes for Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network, with an additional one about Disney Junior/Playhouse Disney recurring songs! They're a little difficult, but I welcome you to take them, especially if you've been going through this blog for the Disney ones!

I've also been watching Bluey! While Bluey isn't officially going on the Disney Watch list, I'll probably make a post about it at some point. I've been kind of enjoying it. It's like Handy Manny in that it really grows on you. And I've seen a bunch of people talk about it that make me wonder... is this cartoon really popular are people actually watching it? Because it doesn't quite feel like they are.

Oh wait. This post is about Kick Buttowski. 

Overall Rating for Kick Buttowski: D Tier

Fish Hooks: A Relatable School Comedy I Can't Quite Get Into (Featuring Last Episode Gays?!)

11:20 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "me too man"

 

 

 

 

 

Is it weird to say Fish Hooks feels like a show intended for teenagers?

Like kids can absolutely watch it, but it feels like it's made for high schoolers from the early 2010s with a lot of focus on things high school kids around that time found cool. 

11:08 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "oscar is blogging...."
8:26 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "we were discussing how esmargot is a vampire slayer and im trying to find that episode"

Episodes about things like Twilight and dipping toes into geek culture made Fish Hooks feel like something someone who was in high school in the early 2010s could relate to. 

1:20 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "why does milo have a birthday and why is he turning 27 soon"

 

 Hell, if this wiki article is to be believed the main characters would have been in the same grade as me.

In addition, the show had an absolutely stacked crew behind it. Alex Hirsch, Maxwell Atoms, Tom Warburton, Justin Roiland, and C.H. Greenblatt just to name a few.

So imagine if you will, you're a high school kid in the early 2010s. Particularly one who loves cartoons. You've been watching a lot of Chowder and it's super funny. You've been mourning the loss of Kids Next Door and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. A few years down the line you'd get some solid entertainment from Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty before finding them blase.

But for some reason, you weren't watching Fish Hooks.

Sure you watched it whenever it came on, and it was a decent show, but it didn't really hook you. How come?

Of course, not a lot of high schoolers in the 2010s were watching cartoons, but I very much was. I think the main difference for me was instead of watching cartoons on TV, I was watching cartoons online. Especially cartoons that had finished years before such as Sheep in the Big City, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Hey Arnold. In addition, I watched a lot of anime online around this time, getting into Hare+Guu, Death Note, and DN Angel.

And even when I did watch it, I was... somewhat unimpressed?

11:00 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "before i get started, the thing about fish hooks is like, i think i was really interested in the concept like it had a lot of good folks on it in terms of the crew and i still think it does but it came off as underwhelming to me. let's see if my opinion changes"
5:22 PM · Mar 23, 2021 "fish hooks is an odd show because it was like. Kind Of? made for teens it feels like. but like. i was not interested in the show as a teen (around the same age as the characters). probably because it was shi"

And my opinion did not change.

However, a lot of my younger (early to mid 20s) friends really enjoyed it, and I guess in retrospect, that makes a lot of sense. A lot of my friends in elementary school were huge on Lizzie McGuire. Hannah Montana was bigger amongst middle schoolers while high school kids mocked her relentlessly.

11:07 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "milo acts like a fucking elementary school kid"

It's still really weird though, because despite the fact that I didn't totally enjoy the show.... high school was like that for me. We weren't really in cliques like every other high school movie. We all just kind of hung out with one another. And even the less popular kids were still treated with respect (not always, as the show exhibits but like. usually).

Maybe the one exclusion is "The Dark Side of the Fish," where Oscar becomes goth and everyone tries to make him less goth. But even then, I hung out with the goth kids at school and some of my other friends admitted they were scared of them hahahaha.

7:58 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "i think oscar kins monika from ddlc....... considering they have similar poetry styles"
8:00 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "milo: NEEDS MORE BUNNIES"
8:06 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "no bea, only clowns wear makeup!" "milo. i wear makeup." "iiiii calls em as i sees em!"
8:08 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "he's going by bubblethorn now.... dare i say.... gnc as fuck?"

 

 

 

 

 

And all my friends were able to relate to various characters. People told me they related strongly to Bea, Oscar, Albert, Milo. I even looked deep within myself and figured out what Fish Hooks character I would kin.

1:58 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "I guess tiny frizzy haired ball of neuroses is enough a scar in high school character. Guess I’ll kin you"

 

1:59 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "She just needs her hair down"

 Also I guess Oscar has obsessive compulsive disorder and I'm mad about it.

11:13 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "this show is so mean i think oscar just tried to off himself"
11:21 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "i really fucking hate when i see an ocd stereotype character who is like. actually kind of relatable. im gonna claw at people"
12:21 PM · Mar 18, 2021 "There’s gotta be a supporting character in this cast worth liking. The main trio have their strengths and weaknesses Milo is really fun at times but sometimes he is a cop Oscar is unfortunately OCD relatable but is kind of a creep Bea is a fun weirdgirl but also a theater kid"
8:15 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "whenever this show writes oscar poorly i hate it but whenever this show writes oscar well i HATE IT EVEN MORE."

I have been a BIT of a hater this blogpost, but it really isn't as bad as I say. It's just one of those shows that has a LOT of potential. There's some really funny jokes and it makes sense that this show has a fandom to this day. It's just... kind of mean sometimes.

11:23 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "this show has jokes that hit and man it could have been so good"

 

 

 

 

 

11:25 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "oscar dropping hints that he's in love with bea and the fucking dial tone. the sfx in this show are a delight."
11:29 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "i could like come out to miss lips and she'd be nice about it i think"
11:36 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "fish hooks feels like a really cool guy you would be friends with but you're also like afraid they're gonna say something really homophobic to you so you keep guard."
11:58 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "i think season 1 is just kind of weird... maybe that's why ppl dont like this show. oscar is bein a freak"
10:18 AM · Mar 20, 2021 "I don’t even hate fish hooks like I really enjoy it there’s just a lot of stuff about it that makes me feel EEEEUUGGGHHHH"

Oddly enough though, I really liked Milo! He's a really friendly guy who's likely struggling with undiagnosed ADHD and he's always trying his best, just having some shitty luck sometimes

8:27 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "milo is such a nice guy"
3:54 PM · Mar 23, 2021 "fish hooks predicted milo murphy's law"
3:55 PM · Mar 23, 2021 "GUESS I MILO'D THAT UP AGAIN!"

oh nvm he's a cop

11:52 AM · Mar 18, 2021 "milo is a cop"

 Whatever that's one episode he's still a lot of fun

 

Speaking of Milo, I can talk about another episode I really enjoyed: Pool Party Panic. I don't often go back to shows in the Disney Watch to rewatch them, but this episode I actually did. Granted, it was because it was one of the only things playing on air on a flight to Los Angeles, but still. It's wild to see this particular episode on a plane. I hope the people behind me were properly confused.

So what makes this episode stand out? Well the opening looks like this.

 

And the show is called "Friend Hooks" for this one episode. The episode takes place at school until Milo realizes something weird is going on: Turns out he's actually a fish and he's missing out on this super fun fish party. Eventually he travels to various other worlds, such as grocery store world and farm world with the help of his nerdy human friends Jimbo (formerly Jumbo) and Albert (he's been Albert this whole time)

 

And eventually the main trio has to run around Chelsea (formerly Shellsea)'s pool party to get an aquarium and wake up Milo

 

Definitely a weird episode, but man I wish they put more in it.

12:01 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "the thing about the friend hook episode is i just really like when cartoons get fucked up. i think it could have been done better tho" 

In addition to weird episodes, shipping is also a big part of the show. It's not Disney's first show that focuses on shipping, but it is pretty invested in who Oscar ends up with.

8:29 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "apparently oscar gets a girlfriend who isnt bea but oscar x bea is still endgame????????"

During season two, Oscar gets a nerd gf voiced by everyone's nerd gf at the time, Felicia Day. I think they kind of just put her in the show for drama, and also to make Oscar a little less creepy towards Bea, so. Appreciated!

In addition to Oscar x Bea endgame, there's another ship that gets confirmed in the finale episode, and a pattern that you'll keep seeing in both Disney cartoons, and children's animation as a whole.

2:51 PM · Mar 17, 2021 "found out the gay ep of fish hooks is the finale. UPSETTING."
2:52 PM · Mar 17, 2021 "fish hooks really did put gay people in the finale. sad."

Last episode gays, baby! We had this with Marceline and Princess Bubblegum, Yunan and Olivia, Adora and Catra, Korra and Asami, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the Gravity Falls cops if you're insane, and now we're seeing it with Mr. Mussels and Coach Salmons.

Oh well we can make our own lgbt fish hooks headcanons

8:32 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "milo definitely likes men."
8:53 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "fish hooks lgbt friend group theory
bea is a trans girl who came out prior to starting high school.
milo is currently coming to terms with being a gay man.
oscar thinks he is cishet but down the line will have some interesting thoughts concerning sexuality and gender"
8:53 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "jumbo thinks he is ace for quite some time before realizing he's in fact gay
albert has always liked boys and girls
koi and finberly are disaster bisexuals who end up starting a queer hyperpop band in their 20s
esmargot comes out as a nonbinary lesbian in college"
8:53 PM · Mar 20, 2021 "shellsea is queering heterosexuality because she likes steve jackson in the way she would love another woman
and clamantha is a lesbian"
6:20 PM · Mar 23, 2021 "im rlly on the trans bea train i'm rotating it in my mind she is so transgender"

And completely unrelated but this ep also had this guy who my friends and I became obsessed with for a while.

 

10:38 AM · Mar 24, 2021 "oscar stoner college fish friend"

There's fanart of me hitting the bong with him, though I don't think I can show it here.

The last episode I want to discuss is "Fishing for Compliments: The Albert Glass Story." It's got a pretty generic plot. Everyone LOVES Bea except one person: Albert.

12:01 PM · Mar 18, 2021 "the theater kid phobia...."

And I'm not super keen on that plot, but the episode ends up with the gang going to a sport event which is basically just a bunch of fish flushing themselves down a toilet and doing battle.

12:09 PM · Mar 18, 2021 "i like that fightng to the death is a fish sport"

And the gang gets involved too, so that's pretty funny. It's something I really like about Fish Hooks. It defies expectations.

 

So overall, the show has about as many hits as it does misses, making it a solid C Tier show

Overall Ranking for Fish Hooks: C Tier

Also if anyone can find this comic listed on inducks I'd love to read it.

2:43 PM · Jun 17, 2021 "from the guy who gave us quacklight and also just a lot of brigitta comics i like...."

Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law: Risk, Reward, Legacy, and Expectation

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. (Source: I lost the entire goddamn post for this one)

Also my friend joked that this post mysteriously vanished due to Doof and Perry's schemes so I guess it fits in with both fucking shows.

Honestly it's a bit difficult to talk about these show. Both series are very popular, to the point where they're heavily discussed. I've seen a lot of philosophical takes on Phineas and Ferb especially, so I guess I'll just talk about my history with these shows.

I watched both shows as they came out. Phineas and Ferb started out when I was in middle school and continued on through college. Fuck man, I watched Candace Against The Universe for the first time when I was at my fourth university. Milo Murphy's Law on the other hand did not exist too long. When it came out I had a bachelor's and ended around the time I got my master's. 

It's pretty clear that Phineas and Ferb is the cartoon with more staying power, if not from its legacy, from the fact that it's had an insane amount of endings. We got "Act Your Age," which fans assumed was going to be the last episode when it came out, which everyone was disappointed by. We got "Doof 101," the episode paired with "Act Your Age," in which Doofenshmirtz becomes a good guy by working as Vanessa's science teacher and also there's this weird b-plot with bugs. We got "The OWCA Files," which would have served as a spinoff where Doofenshmirtz goes to work for OWCA and is teamed up with Perry the Platypus, but it also wasn't that great, and again had those fucking bugs no one likes. We got "The Last Day Of Summer," the actual final episode of Phineas and Ferb, which served as a fun bookend having Phineas wave goodbye to the audience, and more importantly, show Candace and Doofenshmirtz trying to succeed for once in their lives. Then years later, we got the movie Candace Against The Universe, which was pretty fun, again exploring Candace's character, this time via her relationship to her brothers. Also we found out Jeremy Johnson was a LARPer.

And of course, in the middle of all that, there was also Milo Murphy's Law.

Milo Murphy's Law was going to take place in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb, but not really have much overlap between its characters. That was the plan anyway. Eventually, the Phineas and Ferb team showed up to help save the day in the cross season two-parter "Fungus Among Us" and "The Phineas and Ferb Effect." The idea being that Milo has a disproportionate amount of bad luck while Phineas and Ferb have a disproportionate amount of good luck, which they can use as a weapon. Also Dr. Doofenshmirtz invents time travel in the future and spends the entire second season living at Milo's house. He even has a breakup arc with Perry the Platypus at the same time Dakota and Cavendish have their breakup arc. Honestly season 2 is a lot of Dan Povenmire talking to himself.

All of this points to Phineas and Ferb being a better show, and well... it is... But Phineas and Ferb isn't without its faults, and there's still a lot I like about Milo Murphy's Law.

One of the differences between the two shows is the risk and reward put in. Phineas and Ferb goes for a strict story formula that it holds onto for at least the first half of season one (some people argue it may last longer), and then subverts the hell out of. It's super high risk-high reward. On one hand, watching the first half season of Phineas and Ferb is incredibly dull, but on the other, it makes the future seasons so much better. Stories get subverted, characters grow from one dimensional archetypes to funny little weirdos (this tumblr post is a good example), and the show gets so much funnier. I actually remember watching "Unfair Science Fair" for the first time and thinking "Wow, this is really good." And I kept thinking it.

Milo Murphy's Law on the other hand goes straight into story and character. Everyone is established very quickly, as is the act of subversion, which means you know what to expect. It's still funny, but it's a little more expected. Low risk-low reward. Not to mention again, having Milo Murphy's Law bank off Phineas and Ferb. Though I did have a lot of fun with that part of the show.

I've noticed that my friends' opinions on Milo Murphy's Law are actually pretty different from my own. While I enjoyed the show, many of my friends didn't, and I have a theory on that. I have no evidence, but it's still testable.

Anyway, I think part of why many people didn't enjoy Milo Murphy's Law was due to high expectations. The though process might have been "It was made by the guys who made Phineas and Ferb, of course it's going to be amazing!!!!" And then it didn't live up to expectations of some of the fans. Meanwhile, to me it just seemed like another gimmick show. Around the mid-2010's, it seemed like most of what Disney was putting out was various gimmicky shows that seemed more apt to be funny shorts. Future Worm was about a boy and his worm best friend who travelled through time. Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer was about a weird boy studying monsters in the center of the earth. Pickle and Peanut was... something. And Milo Murphy's Law was about a boy who suffers bad luck at every turn. I didn't have much hope for something like that as a full fledged series, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was good. Not quite up to par with Phineas and Ferb, but still an A Tier show.

Oh also I think Milo Murphy's Law is an American take on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and if MML got a season three it would have been about ESP. I have never seen more than one episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Overall Ranking for Phineas and Ferb: A Tier

Overall Ranking for Milo Murphy's Law: A Tier

Special Agent Oso: Discussing Autism Friendly Media

6:17 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "oso when he fucks up"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a bit of a disclaimer before we start this one. I do not have an autism diagnosis, nor do I feel comfortable self-diagnosing with autism for personal reasons. From the eyes of others, I'm seen as on the borderline between autistic and allistic, and in jokes online I've referred to myself as "autistic enough to walk on my tippy toes." Take this as you will, because I'm gonna talk about autism a lot today.

Something I've taken note of in fandoms across the last 10 years is that there are a lot of autistic people in fandom, and certain fandoms have more autistic people than others. I recall a long time ago seeing someone point out that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is "autism friendly" media due to its esoteric humor, comforting atmosphere, repetitive jokes, and bits about characters getting overly sensitive to the movies they watch. It's a really good term, and I like to see if there are other media that fit this term. Unfortunately, this isn't exactly something that is researched, so there's no de facto list of autism friendly media.

Except Special Agent Oso, which was made with the intent of being autism friendly media.

6:26 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "huh. this is actually kind of neat... did any of my muts on the spectrum watch this show as a kid and find it like. helpful?"

6:35 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "... wait, this show came out when i was like 14.... so it may be a little too new for even my younger mutuals"

Personally, I thought the show was pretty good. It had a lot of positive energy and was very sweet. You especially got that vibe from Oso, which I loved.

6:02 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "apparently oso is played by the adoptive son of john astin, who played gomez in the 60s addams family. interesting information i think."
6:25 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "the vibe in oso is infectious though i really like it."
10:00 AM · Mar 15, 2021 "special agent oso is a very cute show... i wish it had more character dynamics though...."

But! This show also set out to complete a mission, and I needed to know if it did that, so my friend Uwe offered to watch a few episodes with me. And naturally this was a serious endeavor that we both took incredibly seriously 

9:19 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "special agent oso lost his license to kill"

 

9:02 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "It/Its pronoun user detected in oso"
9:20 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "i'm kinda going crazy over the character who was referred to with it/its and no other pronouns like i'm not crazy uwe and i both heard it"
9:25 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "going back is weird bc i hear it both ways now..... (he and it)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totally Serious...

We did get to see Oso in action though. Notably, he and Paw Pilot, his virtual assistant help various kids through difficult tasks using "three special steps," meant to compartmentalize a big task into a few smaller tasks. While at a first glance it seems incredibly basic (And it can be. Some tasks listed by the show can either be seen as too simple to split up or not split up in the best way), it doesn't talk down to its audience at all and has fun with it. You'll even see Oso messing up the tasks given at points.

After a couple episodes, Uwe and I agreed that Oso was a really cute show that set out what it intended to do pretty well!

6:06 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "i start a random episode and oso is already drilling"

Nevermind Oso's cancelled. (jkjkjk)

But yeah, as a whole Oso kind of felt more inclusive than shows like Jojo's Circus or Mickey Mouse Funhouse or even Little Einsteins.

8:55 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "the interactive bits of oso are so subdued i dont really know the implications of a young child watching this show and perhaps being mute or something but the fact that special agent oso allows for nonverbal responses is interesting bc not a lot of interactive shows do"
8:57 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "i've been interacting with interactive bits of shows on variable cases. little einsteins i did because of the thought provoking questions. i didnt for mmch or jojo. this one i interact nonverbally because i trust oso w my life and i think he understands me"
8:58 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "the only show i recall having interactions with interactive bits was dora the explorer, which came out when i was 6, which is like. young enough to watch a baby show but old enough to roll my eyes at interactive parts"

Also there was a Handy Manny crossover where Manny fixes a kid's bike and Oso teaches him how to ride it. It's kind of amazing. I don't have much to say about it but worth pointing out.

9:49 AM · Mar 15, 2021 ""im a hammer" shut up pat we KNOW"
9:50 AM · Mar 15, 2021 "pat is fucked up he tried to injure a woman who already had a broken/sprained leg"
9:51 AM · Mar 15, 2021 "felipe is so self centered in this ep and turner is just sitting here like"
9:54 AM · Mar 15, 2021 "i wish oso and manny would help me learn to ride a bike :sobbing:"

I haven't really talked much about the other characters, but there's Dottie and Wolfie, Oso's two main coworkers, Professor Buffo, the scientist, Rapide, a French speaking Train, and Paw Pilot, Oso's virtual assistant.

9:09 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "i think rapide is a catboy"
6:09 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "me: wow the paw pilot sounds familiar i wonder what i recognize her from
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me:
me: oh."
6:10 PM · Mar 14, 2021 "it's fucking penny from stitch."

Most of them are pretty basic save Paw Pilot who sings a Bond-esque song every episode along with the once an episode song. However, this show kind of lets me illustrate how much this stupid fucking project broke my brain. Now I love cartoons, that much is true. However, thanks to this project I'll hear a voice and be able to clock it to an insane degree, whether it be other cartoons, live action, video games, or anime, as with Paw Pilot and Penny. Hell, even yesterday I recognized a voice actor from Elena of Avalor in a Netflix show I was watching. Not a bad thing at all, but definitely a sign I've been watching way too many cartoons.

Overall Rating for Special Agent Oso: B Tier

Handy Manny: An Acquired Taste

Content Warning: This post includes some brief references to suicidal ideation. Yes I'm serious. Tread carefully.

The thing about most of the baby shows on Disney Channel is that they very much rely on a formula. Handy Manny is no exception to this rule. It's a very formulaic show, and usually that means I like it less and less as it goes on.

That is where Handy Manny is the exception. It kind of grew on me. A lot.

7:35 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "trying to muster thru handy manny as if my next show isn't my friends tigger and pooh and my show after that isn't stitch!"

I was absolutely an idiot for this one, fellas.

I think ultimately, it came down to the characters, particularly the tools. 

They do start out as somewhat annoying. You don't really care that Pat is in fact, a hammer, 

7:03 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "pat has no personality except that he is a hammer"

Nor do you really care about Rusty's cowardice, nor the bickering between rival phillipshead and flathead Felipe and Turner. 

10:38 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "these screwdrivers are filled with vitriol"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nor Dusty, who has so so so much wrong with her.

7:24 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "dusty is insane."
10:14 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "dusty is a human weapon"

But the more you watch the show, you more you realize. "Yes I fucking do." And I think that moment for me came about when they introduced the mid-series tool, Flicker, a funny little baby flashlight who only speaks Spanish, and usually has to be translated by either Felipe or Manny, the two bilinguals in the workshop (which is actually wild to me, you'd think the rest of the original tools would be able to speak Spanish too).

10:30 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "why can only one of manny's tools speak spanish? manny's workshop is probably bilingual so i think they should all speak spanish and english"
7:13 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "FUCKER."
7:22 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "i think it was a good decision to make flicker not speak english"

Flicker was in his self-titled episode in the middle of the second season, similarly to how they gave Toodles sentience in the middle of a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse season. Not really something to complain about but I do think it's interesting that baby shows like to change up the status quo a bit mid-season like this. It's kind of ballsy.

7:28 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "what is the deal with baby shows making big changes mid season anyway. i want to see a baby show where in the 12th episode of season 2 a character transitions"
7:40 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "PLEASE PUT TRANS CHARACTERS IN THE BABY SHOW"

Though that isn't where the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny similarities end

6:38 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "disney likes to do this thing where they make a show that's like a common word or phrase and add an extra syllable like mickey mouse club HOUSE or handy manNY"

It's weird that these are the only Disney baby shows that do this, unless you count possibly Vampirina? But again, I think it's fun.

But anyway back to the tools. This was around the era when no one knew shit about the baby shows I was watching, so naturally, I turned to TVTropes, and of course, I was informed of a Handy Manny episode where Felipe attempted suicide, "Felipe's New Job," which was the final episode I watched.

10:28 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "i have been informed of the felipe attempts suicide episode so let's end on that one"
10:40 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "funny screwdriver die."

So first things first, uh, no he fucking didn't. But it was still an episode that stuck with me. The episode focuses on Felipe who feels upset because he fills a very specific role amongst the tools: screwing and removing phillipshead screws. This makes him think that he's unwanted, and he makes two comments about his death. The first being that he should find a place to lie down and rust, and the second (more intensely) about how Manny should melt him down and use him for scrap metal. I don't really have a moral for that, and the episode does end with Manny needing Felipe to help shut down a factory machine, so I hope that's helpful.

Another episode that really stood out to me was a two-parter: "Handy Manny and the Seven Tools"

9:58 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "you cant call the play snow white and the seven tools there are NINE TOOLS..."

It's a really cute episode where the town puts on a Snow White play and everyone tries out for the main parts

10:00 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "when my friends need to be supported...."

 

 

 

 

 

It also gives me an opportunity to discuss two other human characters in the show who do a lot. There's Kelly, who runs the hardware store that Manny gets his parts from. She gets the part of Snow White while Manny gets the part of Prince Charming. Clearly they were meant to be, depsite the fact that Kelly's is way out of the way.

7:27 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "in a perfect world, manny and kelly would have adjacent shops"

 Instead, Manny is next door to Mr. Lopart, the candy shop owner. In the Snow White play, he plays a tree.

 

But not before singing a whole song about how obsessed he is with theater and stealing the show.

10:03 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "this man shocking me constantly with his hubris. he will fall from grace someday and i will LAUGH"
10:04 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "WE GET IT MR LOPART YOU'RE A THEATER KID"

But what is Mr. Lopart like when he isn't the top thespian of Sheet Rock Hills?

Yeah.

Usually every episode features Mr. Lopart dealing with some issue of something in his candy store being broken, which Manny offers to help with, but alas, Mr. Lopart is too kind (or perhaps, he has too much pride) to accept Manny's help. So naturally, he will continue taping balloons to the ground and asking God why nothing goes his way.

10:45 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "i hate mr lopart"
7:00 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "mr lopart is a sad little man."
7:20 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "mr lopart fills me with unbelievable rage. this man is taping balloons to the ground. i understand he is a creature made entirely of hubris but this is fucking silly"
7:23 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "does mr lopart want to be nice or does he want to prove himself in some way?"

He's very much a character you're supposed to laugh at, and in my case, I just love to hate the guy. 

Overall, Handy Manny, is very much an acquired taste. If this is a show your kid is unnaturally obsessed with, let it happen, you'll get into it eventually, and if the blog you read for some reason decides to make a second post with a considerable amount of Handy Manny in it, you will read that Special Agent Oso post and you will like it!

Overall Rating for Handy Manny: B Tier

Jungle Junction (Hopefully) Part 1: A Call for Help

10:15 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "this show is so elsagated...."

Jungle Junction... isn't a show people care about. 

Certainly it's available to watch, but only behind a paywall. If you want to watch Jungle Junction any other way, you're kind of shit outta luck unless you're bilingual and don't mind watching a dub.

If you check any of the illegal cartoon sites, you'll find a small handful of episodes, which, upon further inspection, aren't episodes but clip compilations that cut off in the middle of a sentence or scene.

I had a lot of trouble with this.

10:27 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "hmm we may have a problem with this one, folks."
10:29 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "okay i can find.... 9 episodes, but i think that's it."
10:34 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "... they're in chinese"
10:38 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "i can only find two eleven minute episodes in english. everything else is just clips... i might have to return to this one"
10:41 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "OH MY GOD."
10:41 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "it's another clip compilation i was FOOLED"

Overall, of 47 episodes, I was able to find half of one full episode in English that wasn't behind a paywall, and that was "Treasures of Jungle Junction." It wasn't very good.

10:47 AM · Mar 16, 2021 "they made the bird a cop. unforgivable."

But at the same time, I have rules. I can't just tell you a cartoon is bad after watching one 11-minute episode. Not when I've been watching 13 22-minute episodes or the majority of the series (whichever comes sooner).

So I'd like to ask for help on this one. If you guys can find full episodes of Jungle Junction anywhere, please let me know. I'd rather not spend money on this project (perhaps I will once I reach an end to this project), but also, I find it odd that this show from only a decade ago doesn't really have a footprint. Other than some paywall'd stuff on AppleTV.

Maybe if you find it, or if it's on some other streaming platform in your country (I live in Canada), you can also try to preserve it if you know how to do that? There's only a DVD release in the UK with four episodes in terms of physical media, and even though I don't like this show, media preservation is still important!

Rating of THE ONE JUNGLE JUNCTION SEGMENT I SAW: D Tier