Favorite Fictional Character --- Lexington

 

It may be telling that so many of the fictional characters I've been featuring over the last several months come from cartoons. After books, cartoons were where I could get lost in storytelling, forgetting everything else going on in my life — think safety blanket, or blankie for short. As I got older, that dependency shifted into something else. Cartoons became a source of enjoyment first, escapism second. So yeah, I was still watching cartoons in high school.

And while I’m not going through a ton right now, there are a lot of changes at work, and I’m having to challenge myself and what I want moving forward, which is causing a little more stress than usual. That’s probably what’s led me back to revisiting the cartoons from my youth.

Today’s character is from a cartoon that debuted in 1994, the same year I graduated from high school, and I adored him from the beginning. For those of you unfamiliar with Gargoyles, the show follows a Scottish clan of gargoyles who find themselves magically transported from the tenth century to modern-day New York, or at least what was modern day three decades ago. They’re charged with protecting the city from threats, both old and new.

Lexington, the tiny green one, grabbed onto this new opportunity with gusto. He was fascinated by modern technology and dove into it headfirst. He taught himself so well he became a hacker extraordinaire, able to break into almost any security system. He also enjoys the fun side of tech, especially video games. If you need a new motorcycle, he can build one for you — just don’t let him test drive it.

Of all the clan, Lexington adapted to his new reality the quickest, and I think I loved him so much because I hoped some of his openness to new environments would rub off on me, especially as I was preparing to move out of state for college. I’m not sure it did, but I appreciated the inspiration all the same.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Captain Caveman

 

"Caaaptain Caaaavemaaaan!"

I was that kid who would plop himself down on his grandparents’ living room floor — even when they had brand new white carpet — turn on the USA Network, and get lost in USA Cartoon Express for an hour or two, depending on the day. The vast majority of the cartoons came out in the 1970s, but that never mattered to me. I could watch Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Herculoids, Thundarr the Barbarian, Space Ghost, Jabberjaw, and the rest of the gang just as easily as I watched newer shows like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Shirt Tales, Kissyfur, and The Wuzzles. If it was a cartoon, I was all in. It didn’t matter how old it was or when it originally aired — if it was animated, it had my full attention.

One of the shows I loved most was Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. If you’ve never seen it, think a mix of Scooby-Doo and Charlie’s Angels, with the addition of a caveman accidentally thawed from a block of ice by three teen girls. Cavey quickly joins them, and before long, he’s right there alongside Dee Dee, Brenda, and Taffy as they travel around solving mysteries and catching the bad guys.

There was something about Cavey — ridiculous as he was — that stuck with me. Between his Cousin Itt-like appearance, his “Me Tarzan, you Jane” way of speaking, and powers that never quite worked the way they were supposed to, he shouldn’t have worked as well as he did. And yet he did. He never gave up. No matter how often things went wrong, he would shake it off and keep going, completely content with the life he had found with the Teen Angels.

They only solved mysteries for 40 episodes, but those adventures have stuck with me far longer than that. It’s still one of those shows I find myself going back to every now and then — not just for the nostalgia, but for the simple joy it always managed to bring with it.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr.

 

"Sufferin' succotash!"

When I was a kid, I’d get lost in Saturday morning cartoons. I would park myself on the floor in front of the TV and spend the next few hours watching all the fun and joy my adolescent heart could handle. The Bugs Bunny Show was one of those cartoons, and today’s Favorite Fictional Character was a big part of my enjoyment.

Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. is a cat with a voracious appetite—an appetite that makes his pursuit of Tweety, Speedy, and Hippety Hopper a tad frantic at times. What makes it even worse, at least from Sylvester’s point of view, is that it’s an appetite that will never be sated. Because, like Wile E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd, and Ralph Wolf, he’s doomed to fail every single time. This poor guy gets beaten up on the regular, but he has the spirit of a fighter. He never gives up, never gives in, much to the chagrin of his son, Sylvester J. Pussycat, Jr.

As a kid, there was nothing here not to find funny. Sylvester was—and still is—a hoot and a half. Granted, most of that laughter comes at Sylvester’s expense and is due to the bodily harm that befalls him over and over and over again, and that’s okay. There’s something inherently hilarious about his outsized confidence constantly crashing headfirst into reality. What I appreciate more now is just how much personality Sylvester brings to the table. He’s emotional, dramatic, and endlessly persistent. No matter how many times he fails, he always gets back up and tries again, fully convinced that this time will be different—and that belief is what has kept me laughing all these years later.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf

 

"Mornin' Sam." "Mornin' Ralph."

If there was ever a perfect metaphor for the drudgery of going to work day after day—repeating the same actions, getting the same results, and never achieving your goal—Sam and Ralph would be the poster children of the dead-end job.

When Sam clocks in, he’s the guardian, parked on a ledge protecting his charges. When Ralph clocks in, he’s a hungry predator, desperate to get his hands on a sheep. Sam spends a lot of his time sleeping. Ralph spends a lot of his time running around like crazy. Sam, as adorable as he is, is a little more violent than expected. Ralph, as dangerous as he looks, just doesn’t seem to have the drive needed to react in kind.

I shouldn’t find it as funny as I do. It’s an unending, 9-to-5 hamster-wheel cycle that’s hilarious as hell. No growth. No victories. No promotions. Just two guys doing exactly what they’re paid to do and getting absolutely nowhere. And somehow, that never gets old.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Daffy Duck

 

"You're deththpicable!"

Let’s be honest: would Bugs Bunny be as entertaining without Daffy Duck? I’m going to say no. As much fun as Bugs vs. Elmer or Bugs vs. Yosemite Sam can be, when Bugs and Daffy go at it, everyone had better duck and cover, because the shenanigans are about to reach catastrophic levels. That’s not even getting into the times Bugs and Daffy team up—because when those two join forces to cause a little mayhem, I know I’m in for a wild ride.

As a kid, I don’t think I could have picked between Bugs’ antics and Daffy’s temper tantrums when it came to which I found more entertaining. Looking back as an adult, though, I think Daffy may have elicited a few more belly laughs than Bugs, though it’s a very close call. Unlike Bugs, who I may not find quite as funny now as I did as a kid, my darker sense of humor gives me full permission to enjoy Daffy’s jealous machinations even more than I used to. And those temper tantrums? They’re absolute works of art.

Watching Daffy as an adult hits differently. What once felt like pure slapstick now reads as insecurity, jealousy, and a desperate need to be taken seriously. Daffy knows he’s always playing second fiddle to Bugs, and watching him unravel because of it is darkly hilarious. He’s his own worst enemy, and somehow that just makes him funnier. His fragile ego is especially on display in “Robin Hood Daffy,” where his overwhelming need for recognition turns even his noblest intentions into one disaster after another. 

I can’t do a post about Daffy without mentioning his turn as Duck Drake in “The Super Snooper.” I have a weakness for detective parodies, my love for Sesame Street’s Sherlock Hemlock will attest to that, so watching Daffy play a private investigator summoned to look into a potential murder is a true pleasure. Of course, the comedy is helped immensely by the fact that the lead suspect seems far more interested in pursuing Drake than Drake is in solving the case. It’s pure 1950s comedy gold.

Actually, if y’all don’t mind, I think I’m going to go watch it again now—because no matter how many times I’ve seen it, Daffy Duck absolutely never fails to make me laugh.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Bugs Bunny

 

Centuries ago, I would occasionally pick a monthly theme for my Favorite Fictional Character posts, and exactly 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 11 seconds ago, I decided to revive that sporadic tradition. Nothing says continuity like randomly deciding to do something you only did occasionally fifteen billion years ago.

And because the first character that popped into my head was Bugs Bunny, it looks like y’all will be reading about my love of four different Looney Tunes characters during the month of January! I can already feel the excitement pouring off of you. As I typed that, I could see Bugs in my mind giving me a blank look, blinking once or twice, and then saying, “Eh… what’s up, Doc?”

For me, as a kid born in the 1970s, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Bugs Bunny was or think he was anything other than absolutely, ridiculously funny. He was Loki before Tom Hiddleston was born and is older than Deadpool and Bart Simpson combined. He is a true Trickster in every sense of the word. As a kid, I didn’t understand what a Trickster was. All I saw was a talking rabbit getting one over on hunters, loud mustached cowboys, and whirling devils and witches who wanted to eat him.

He gave perms to monsters, fought a bull, outplayed an entire baseball team, and stuck his nose up at anyone in charge. He was an astronaut, opera singer, knight, barber, and cowboy. As a kid, I thought Bugs could do just about anything.

As an old man (49) past his prime, I may not find him quite as funny as I did back then, but I still appreciate every single second I spent in his company. He entertained the hell out of me, and that’s just about all you can ask of an anthropomorphic talking rabbit.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Happy

Tonight, sometime around 10:00 p.m., I’ll put on Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976), and for fifty minutes I’ll watch Rudolph attempt to find and rescue Happy, the Baby New Year, in time to help the New Year take over from the old. If he fails, time will be stuck on December 31st forever.

Happy is a delightful little tyke. He’s full of life and loves being surrounded by others. Unfortunately, like Rudolph, he has a physical difference that causes people to laugh when they see it. Poor little Happy has ears that are just a bit too big for his head. When he pulls off his hat, his ears pop up, and people immediately start laughing.

Hurt and overwhelmed, Happy runs away to the Archipelago of Last Years, where each island represents a different year in time. He meets plenty of people who could be his friend, but they laugh at him too, so he keeps moving, just wanting to find someone who will accept him.

Of course, Happy eventually learns that they aren’t laughing at him, but laughing from the joy he brings. Like Rudolph, Hermey, and Nestor before him, Happy is a lovable Misfit who simply needed to find his people—and his purpose. It’s a gentle reminder that sometimes belonging doesn’t come from changing who you are, but from finding the place where you’re already enough.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Lock, Shock, and Barrel

 

"Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws?

I wanna do it

Let's draw straws

Jack said, "we should work together"

Three of a kind

Birds of a feather

Now and forever, whee (la, la, la)

(La, la, la)

(La, la, la, la, la, la)"

I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, watching Jack fall into Christmas Town and love it so much that he decides to take it over, becoming the new and “improved” Santa Claws. You’ve got to love a man with ambition.

In his misguided attempt to “improve” a holiday other than his own, Jack enlists the legendary mischievous trick-or-treaters known as Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa Claus—and that’s when the real fun begins.

Those three little imps, who relish trouble and can’t help causing mayhem everywhere they go, have to be one of the most fun trios ever put to screen. The fact that they’re voiced by Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Reubens is like having a bag full of trick-or-treat candy dumped in front of you and being able to do nothing but stare in awe at the abundance of riches.

There’s no way, despite their fumbled villainy, not to thoroughly enjoy every second they spend tooling around in their bathtub convertible as they follow the orders of Oogie Boogie. I absolutely adore these prank-loving hobgoblins who take such delight in the chaos they cause simply by being themselves.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Inspector Gadget

Growing up in the 1980s allowed me to wallow in the greatest cartoons of all time. Thats not to say there weren't some great cartoons prior to and after the 1980s, but that decade is the Renaissance of televison cartoons. If you have been following this blog for any length of time, at least before my extended hiatus, you know that I'm a huge cartoon nerd. If you were to bowse  through past Favorite Fictional Character posts, you would see numerous cartoon characters. I'm addicted to them, and I remember 80s cartoons that nobody else I know does. Not that Im bragging.

With today's pick I'm cheating a little. The pilot of Inspector Gadget aired on 12/04/1982, but the series itself didn't air until September of the following year. But since I've already decided on the character for 1983, and I needed one for 1982, Inspector Gadget it is.

Anyone familiar with the show knows that Inspector Gadget, no other name is ever given, is a bumbling cyborg police inspector who talks and acts like Maxwell Smart. Despite the fact that he can summon a helicopter blade from his head, stretch his arms and legs about as long as he needs them to be, and can pretty much summon any object from his body that he can ever possibly need, he is pretty much a waste of his bionic enhancements. Hell, if it wasn't for Penny and Brain, his niece and dog respectively, he probably would have been killed in the pilot episode. Much like Maxwell Smart, he means well and tries his hardest, so you can't help but like him. You just don't want to have him as backup in the event something goes wrong. And whether I was laughing at him, or with him, he never failed to entertain.

29 Days Until Halloween

So needless to say, September was not the month that things got back to normal around here.  I had every intention of throwing myself back into blogging, then they demoted my assistant manager, and I'm stuck working 76 hours a week right now.  That appears to be what my life is going to be like for the foreseeable future, so not looking forward to it.

What I am looking forward to is Halloween, and I'm going to make a commitment to post something Halloween related everyday, right up to the big day itself.  Some days it may be a simple Youtube video of a favorite Halloween song or Halloween cartoon.  Other days will feature a book review or a movie review.  And I'm going to try my damnedest to get some Halloween themed Favorite Fictional Characters thrown in there for good measure.  And I'm not going to kill myself getting it done, but I feel as if I need to make a 2016 list of sexy vampires.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Underdog

I always find it fascinating when a fictional character is created for a single purpose, but ends up being so much more than that. Many times they are created as an advertising gimmick used to sell toys, greeting cards, cat food, and just about anything else you can think of.  Some of them, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as an example, prove to be so popular that most people don't realize they were originally created to by an ad agency. There are some of that never leave the realm of advertising, Tony the Tiger for example, that still somehow manages to become bigger than the product itself.  The guy, while not as huge as Rudolph still managed to follow in his footsteps, and become more than the cereal peddler he started off as.

The superhero who always spoke in rhyming couplets, Underdog was the brainchild of General Mills, the company behind many of my favorite cereals from childhood. He, along with Tennessee Tuxedo, proved to be so popular they got their own cartoons, comic books, and merchandise.  Much like Superman, Underdog hid his greatness behind a mediocre front, Shoeshine Boy. They shared many of the same superpowers, and even had a familiar catchphrase, but that's were the similarities end.

Where Superman was focused on saving the world from extensional threats, Underdog was more concerned about saving his girl from the nefarious villains who just couldn't leave her alone.  And while he did in fact have great superpowers, he could never finish a episode without flying into a building, or causing so much collateral damage that I can't even begin to imagine the cost of his cleanups.  I would have suggested Karate Kat, who was a janitor by day, for cleanup duty, but he didn't come around until decades later. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Popeye

If there is a pantheon of biggest fictional characters of all time, there are a few whose membership should never be doubted.  I dare anyone to not know the names of Superman, Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Dracula, Bugs Bunny, or even Scooby-Doo.  These are names, and faces, that are universally recognized and loved.  I could make an argument for twenty or thirty other characters that I could easily names into their ranks, but this post is about one of them in particular.  I'm sure that there are going to be naysayers about this guy, those who say he really isn't as big of a pop culture icon as I believe he is, but I would humbly tell them that they are wrong.

If for some bizarre reason you don't recognize this guy, you can call him Popeye the Sailor Man, Popeye for short.  Popeye, bless his heart, comes across as a crass sailor with very little education.  For the most part, he sort of lives up to that characteristic, but he has these moments that not only defies all expectations, but always made me think his normal attitude was all a front.  Those moments when his intelligence shines, somehow solving problems that flummoxed everyone else, were the moments that made me think we were seeing the real Popeye. Spinach may have gave him super-strength, but I somehow doubt that it gave him super-intelligence as well.  I never understood what he saw in Olive, a woman who seemed to pit him and Bluto against each other, all for her enjoyment.  I guess it proves that when it comes to love, no amount of intelligence can keep you from acting a fool. 

If you doubt his iconic status, just think back on all the comic strips, comic books, movies, TV shows, books, and cartoons that he has starred in over the last 87 years.  That's not counting all the licenses merchandise, video and pinball games, toys and stuffed animals, his stint as a spokesman for Quaker Oats, or his stint as the mascot of the most popular soccer teams in the world at , Flamengo.   If you can name a product, he has been on it.  Popeye is the man, and Mickey, Bugs, and the rest, are making room for him.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Tom & Jerry

Sometimes you need a song in order to get your point across. Whether it's Marvin Gaye, Rob Base, Katy Perry, or the Baker and his Wife, they all have it right when they sing, "It Takes Two." Occasionally, when I'm deciding who I'm going to highlight in a Favorite Fictional Character post, I end up selecting someone that is generally paired with another character.  In most cases, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as an example, I'm able to separate them in order to highlight just one of them.  But every once in a while, I'm having to do a post about more than one character.  The Cast of Clue, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Waldorf & Statler, and Frank & Joe Hardy, are some of the characters that I've had to do one single post on.  I dare anyone to separate those characters from each other, and love on one of them, but not the other.  It's a task that would make Sisyphus blanch.  And that's the task I was facing when I selected Tom & Jerry. You simply can't take them apart, they are a single unit, and need to be treated as such.

Is there anyone out there that doesn't love Tom & Jerry?  If the answer is yes to that, I want NASA to check them out, and make sure they are in fact human, and not from some distant planet.  Yeah, I know they can be pretty violent.  If Tom wasn't trying to capture Jerry to make him part of his meal, Jerry was busy poking Tom, trying to get him worked up.  I think between the two of them, they have been shot, stabbed, chopped in half, electrocuted, beaten by a variety of weapons, cooked, ran over, blown up, poisoned, frozen, and burned.  They are both clever little guys, but Jerry seemed to get it over on Tom most of the time, but Tom's ingenuity managed to payoff, albeit it in a very intermittent manner.

As antagonist as they could be, one of my favorite aspects of their relationship, was the sense of genuine friendship between them.  Even when they were hurting each other, it felt as if it was more of a competition, rather that true animus.  When one of them was facing some outside foe, or experiencing a problem, the other would be by their side, helping them out.  They could even, from time to time, join forces on a joint adventure.  But it's their fighting that kept me captivated as a kid.  I could watch episode after episode, enraptured by their antics.  

These guys were already a 36 years old when I was born, let alone when I was watching cartoons, but Tom & Jerry are characters that transcend age.  They are characters that are loved by kids today, and I have a feeling they still have a long life ahead of them. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Heckle & Jeckle

There are certain characters, dreamed up in bygone eras, that I really don't think would find an audience today.  Some of them are products of their times, created to fit into an era's zeitgeist.  They could be too naive, cute, or innocent to find an audience in today's jaded marketplace.  Or they could play to a stereotype that would not be tolerated in today's world.  Others, and I'm thinking of the characters I'm featuring today when I say this, just may be too abrasive to find refuge in the living rooms of 2016.  I could be wrong, maybe these guys could find an audience, but I'm thinking their shtick would have to be tweaked a bit, maybe a lot.  But even their abrasiveness may find a home. I look at some of what's on TV these days, including cartoons, and I'm amazed by the crassness of it all.  Toilet humor runs amok, and intelligence is downplayed.  If I were a kid of today, I would be watching a whole lot of vintage cartoons, not the drivel being produced now.  When all is said and done, I'm thinking Heckle & Jeckle may be a tad bit too mean spirited enough for today's youth, especially with the way bullying seems to be such a huge issue.  Despite it all, I still love them.  It's impossible to watch a cartoon of theirs, without cracking up.

For those of you who don't know Heckle & Jeckle, it's the two magpies in the picture above.  If you go by their accents, one is English, the other is from New York.  Other than that, I'm not really sure anyone could really tell them apart.  They are both temperamental, brash, antagonistic, sarcastic, and at times, a wee bit mean spirited.  They rarely ever aren't the instigators of their little capers, and often times go on the offensive, long before their "foe" knows what's going on.  They both can be devious in their actions, but that's seems to be Jeckle's forte, more than Heckle.  They are grifters and freeloaders, and damn proud of it.  They look out for themselves, and aren't overly concerned about the damage they inflict. 

Even with all those negative things I just said about them, they are the best of friends and have the other's  back, no matter what.  As with all partnerships, they have their sniping moments, but's it's almost impossible to not see the true friendship and camaraderie between the two of them.  They are loyal to each other, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and if they were real people, they probably would have met a similar fate.  And did I mention, they are frickin hilarious?  Unless I'm gagged, it would be impossible for me to not laugh out loud when I watch them.  I adore them, and if that makes me a mean person, I can live with it.  At least I'm a mean person with a wicked sense of humor. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Quick Draw McGraw

If you haven't been able to figure out by now, I'm a huge cartoon fan.  Actually, I should probably restate that in a way, that makes me sound like I have good taste. Here it goes.  If you haven't been able to figure out by now, I'm a huge fan of cartoons from the 1980s, and earlier.  I'm sure, if you are around my age, or older, the know the reason I had to qualify my statement.  And it's a simple point.  Once you get past the very early years of the 1990s, cartoons sucked.  The quality of the animation seemed to go down hill, get horrifically sloppy.  I've tried to watch recent cartoons, and except for a few like Dora, they are not only pathetically animated, but horribly written as well.  They have devolved to the basest humor, and if that's what's on offer now, I'm glad Saturday morning cartoons are a thing of the past.  And as much as I love the cartoons of the 1980s, the cartoons my mom, and myself, grew up watching are some of my favorites.

Take this guy for example, if you don't know who he is, this is Quick Draw McGraw.  He is probably the most entertaining sheriff the Old West ever had.  Was Quick Draw the sharpest knife if the drawer, not even close, and I think he would be okay with that description of himself.  But Quick Draw had heart, he had bravery to spare, and he always strove to do the honorable thing.  It is true, he had to be bailed out, more than once, by his deputy, Baba Looey, and occasionally the bloodhound Snuffles, but he did save the day, occasionally, all by his lonesome. 

Just to put this out there, I could have done without his masked alter ego, El KaBong.  He really should have left the masked vigilantism to Zorro, who used his sword, way better than El KaBong could ever have used his guitar.  I'm not even sure how he was able to find the time to go on his incognito adventures.  I would think being sheriff would take up a lot of his time, but what do I know.

I can tell you what I do know though.  I would take Quick Draw McGraw, in any incarnation, over the drivel kids are watching today.  Whether his madcap adventures made sense or not, they were entertaining.  Not only that, as crazy as the story lines could get at time, they at least had a story to tell.  

Favorite Fictional Character --- Wilma Flintstone

I'll be one of the first to admit, that I'm a sucker for strong female characters.  The majority of the characters I chose to highlight when I first started this feature, were women.  I'm not sure if it's because I've always been surrounded by strong women, starting with my great-grandma who ran a lumber mill way past the point when others retire.  Whatever the reason, I've always been drawn to them. From all time favorites like Miss Piggy & Buffy Summers, to characters I've only recently discovered like Harriet Baxter, I'm always excited when I get to spend time with them.  What I really like though, is when the character comes from a source you wouldn't have expected her to come from.  You expect Buffy to be strong, after all, she is the vampire slayer.  What you don't expect is that same strength coming from a prehistoric housewife, one of four central characters that starred in a cartoon that debuted in 1959.

I think most of you know this rather iconic character, just from looking at her.  I'm pretty sure that Wilma Flinstone is a mainstay of American pop culture, and will probably never fade from the public consciousness.  Wilma is in some ways the stereotypical 1950s housewife.  She stays home, cleans house, cooks dinner for her husband, and once Pebbles is born, spends her time raising her.  But she's so much more than that.  She is the iron willed force that keeps her husband in line, keeping him from screwing up to badly when his schemes go wrong, which they always do.  She is the central figure that the others orbit around, without her, there is no family, no TV show for them to star in.

Granted, Wilma, especially in the beginning, could be a little too strong.  She could be a little too harsh with Fred, hitting him over the head a few too many times, and berating him a smidge over what was appropriate.  I'm not sure if that was at the beginning of their marriage, and they were still trying to figure it all out, but I'm glad that over the course of it, they seemed to reach a level they were both comfortable with.  

Wilma is one of those characters that I would not want to get on the bad side of.  She always seemed fiercely loyal to those she cared about, but willing to take on those that she thought were fake, or meaning harm to those close to her.  At the same time, she is one of those characters, along with Betty, I would love to go have a glass of wine with.  I could imagine a good time would be had by all.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Orko

In the world of long gone, Saturday morning cartoons, the sidekick reigned supreme.  Off the top of my head, I can think of 20 to 30 that served alternately as comic relief, and as their show's conscious.  They could quickly become the heart and soul of show, and at times, they overshadowed the main characters.  Some of them have gone on to be remembered with fondness, and other with derision, if they are even remembered at all.  Then there are the ones who have become cultural icons, instantly recognized by the masses.  They can be found merchandised to the hilt, in other works of fiction, and as a stand in for some sort of cultural ideal.  In the world of the cartoon sidekick, one of my favorites of all time comes from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a cartoon that existed to solely sell toys.  Oddly, Orko, the hero of this post, was the only character who started off on the show, before ending up as a toy.

Orko is one of those characters that has continuously bridged the line between annoying and heroic.  On one hand, the writers, when they couldn't think of any other way to get the action started, would have Orko screw something up, and the rest of the show would be him, and others trying to fix the problem.   The rest of the time, he was the one would somehow save the day, rescuing He-Man and the other Masters out of some predicament they found themselves in.  It was as if they could never really get a real handle on who Orko was, or at the least, couldn't figure out the way to use him. 

It's that bizarre dichotomy of character, that has endeared him to millions of us that grew up with him on our TV screens. He's so earnest, so eager to do the right thing, you can't help but find his bumbling charming, and forgivable.  He ended up on Eternia by accident, with no way of getting home.  Where many of us would have hunkered down, and wallowed in self pity for a while, he decided to make the best of the situation, even though he found himself at a disadvantage in his new home.  On his home planet, he was a powerful wizard, on Eternia, who has different natural rules, that magic doesn't work as well as it should. But he never gives up, he never feels sorry for himself, at least not for too long, and he's always willing to give all of himself when it's asked of him.  If you think about it, he is the whole reason He-Man even exists.  If he hadn't saved a young Adam in the swamp, Skeletor would have conquered Eternia long ago.  And if you take that logic to it's next level, that means Orko is in fact the hero of the show, not He-Man.

They tried to reboot the show, and the characters in the early 2000s, but it never recaptured the heart of the original.  Part of that was due to the changes they made in the characters personalities, including in Orko's, and part of it was simply bad writing and even worse animation.  Orko, at least for me is a cultural icon that can not be reproduced.  While I wish they would have done a better job of defining who he was as a whole character, not just good for a laugh or two, Orko is the one who has stuck with me all these years later.  Now I just need to see if I can find his action figure one of these days.  Besides, how can you not love a guy who is responsible for bringing Christmas to Eternia.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Bookworm

Sidekicks are a tried and true archetype in the fictional world.  They don't always stand out, nor are they all that noticeable at times, but they all serve the same function.  They may perform that function in different ways, but they are all there to make their partner more relatable to the audience.  They do it through humor most of the time, but they can also act as storytellers and interpreters for their partners.  In other ways, and when they are utilized at their weakest level, they are simply there as a prop, something for their stronger counterpart to play off of.  That is the worst kind of sidekick, and one that a reader/viewer will never pay attention to, which is a waste of potential.  It robs the character of being memorable, and it robs the audience of a character they could care about.

On character that hovers around the line between being a great sidekick, and an almost overlooked one, is Bookworm from a few Merry Melodies cartoons.  He is the occasional sidekick for Sniffles, another character I absolutely adore, and though he never utters a word, he's frickin adorable.  We first meet him in Sniffles and the Bookworm from 1939, as they wind their way through various adventures in a closed bookshop, as book characters come to live.  Where Sniffles is a talkative little guy, Bookworm uses facial expressions and hand gestures, pantomime, to get his point across.  He is expressive and charming, and I wanted nothing more to hang out with the two of them as a kid.

Sadly, he was only used a handful of times, but he was the right anchor for Sniffles.  He would be scared, if Sniffles needed to be brave.  He would be cautious, if Sniffles needed to think things through a bit more.  Whatever Sniffles needed to be, Bookworm was the right catalyst for him.  Between the two of them, Bookworm is probably the one who sticks in the minds of most people, at least those reading this blog, because he was probably the more relatable to our lives.  He was a quite sort of guy, happier when he could bury his head in a book to read adventures, rather than living them himself.  At the same time, he was a true friend for Sniffles, never letting him face the world alone, ready to face his fears, if that's what was asked of him. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Pig-Pen

 You know those moments in your childhood that stick with you, no matter how old you get?  Well I have two of them that relate to why I have always had a soft spot for Pig-Pen.  I know I've mentioned this before, in different contexts of course, but I had a rather unusual childhood.  Because of various factors, I really never had a mom, at least not one that truly acted like one.  Instead I had, for all intents and purposes, an older sister who made sure I had a roof over my head, and that I didn't go hungry.  She never acted like a mom until I was about to graduate high school, so needless to say, my childhood was an odd one.

For whatever reason, for a brief time in fifth grade, I got it into my head to sleep in my school clothes.  My mom didn't make sure we were up, generally slept through that part of the morning, so I'm pretty sure she never even noticed I was doing it.  Well you can imagine the way a kid who is doing that ends up smelling like after a while, and kids being kids, I was quickly told of my odoriferous situation.  I'm going to assume that most of the kids just assumed it was because I was poor, which we were, though that had nothing to do with my strange notion of sleeping in my clothes, or that I didn't know what a shower was, when I took one daily.  Add on the fact I was a rather shy kid back then, and the rest of 5th grade kinda sucked. There were other issues going on then too, but this certainly did not help.   That's also the year I had to go on a field trip, to the lake my father died in.

A few years later, during the whole carnival years, the aroma problem reared it's ugly head once again.  This time, it wasn't because I was sleeping in my clothes, it was because where we were living for the winter, I wasn't able to take a shower every day.  It was probably the most humiliating thing to happen to me at that age, though not one of the other kids ever said a word to me, so for that, I will always be grateful.  It also didn't help that I had been changing schools so much, every two weeks, due to the carnival moving towns.  So I was never comfortable around kids my own age, since all the other kids on the road were either older or younger to me.  And moving every two weeks, it was pretty hard to make friends.  Instances like this, just made it worse.

So I get Pig-Pen.  His friends are nice to his face, though their teasing can be a bit harsh at times.  They talk about him behind his back, and his creator regretted the fact he ever drew him.  We never learn his real name, or his family situation.  Half the time, it appears that there is no one at home looking out for him, but other times, his mom is calling him home to take a bath.  Most of the time it appears that his dirtiness is by choice, but other strips you can see the emotional damage the teasing inflicts on him.  I really do think he's just a boy who likes to play, and doesn't care about the dirt.  But I can relate to those glimpses of pain, when other kids don't bite their tongues.  When the choices of an adult, has a negative impact on your self esteem, I get the ramrod straight back you end up putting up, in an attempt to show the world they aren't getting to you. Pig-Pen, and the real human kids like him, like me, deserve better than what's said to them.  He's always going to be a part of me, and despite it all, I'm grateful for it. 

And for the record, both situations have stayed in my head.  It's part of the reason I take two showers a day, and have used cologne since high school.  I will never put myself in that situation again. That's a promise I made in TX after I was called to the principal's office that last time, being offered the use of the locker room showers before school.  

Favorite Fictional Character --- Fred Flintstone

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a cartoon junkie.  I find no shame in this, nor do I think it's something that leaves me open to ridicule.  I'm addicted to cartoons, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

There is a small caveat to my addiction, it can't be a cartoon that was made after I was in my teens.  For whatever reason, almost all cartoons since the mid 1990s are sloppy.  I'm not sure if it's because they have gone to digital animation instead of hand drawn, their horrible story lines, or a combination of the two.; but I can't handle the way cartons look anymore.  They aren't entertaining by any stretch of the imagination, and that's a damn shame.  I wish today's kids had the cartoon that I grew up with.  Even more than that, I wish they had the cartoons that my mom grew up with, including The Flintstones.

No matter how much Fred Flintstone bloviates, yelled, pushes his chest out, or stomps his humongous feet, his heart is always in the right place.  Fred is the quintessential blue collar family man caught up in taking care of his family.  He is loud, aggressive, and just a tad bit bossy, but behind his obnoxious exterior, is a man who truly loves his family,

Everything he is, everything he is about, everything he does is centered on giving his family a better life. He works his ass off at the quarry, takes the odd job around town, and is constantly trying to scheme his way into the moneyed elite.  He has a heart of gold, and not matter how much he may irritate people, he is the first in line to lend them a helping hand. 

I grew up with a father that was like Fred in a superficial way, but unlike him in more ways than one.  My dad was loud, obnoxious, pushed his chest out, and unlike Fred, threw a punch more often than not.  What he wasn't was a man who was willing to put his family first, and do what needed to be done to take care of them.  Who my dad was, is why I love Fred as much as I do.  I wanted a father, who despite what was on the exterior, was a man who put his wife and kids first.  I wanted a dad who did what it took to make sure we were safe and loved.  I'm not sure I wanted a prehistoric caveman who yelled "Yabba Dabba Doo" all the time, but I'm pretty sure that if I had, my father would still be around.