Today I wasted over an hour fruitlessly shopping online for gifts for my nephews. Where have all of the cool cartoons/toys gone? I cannot have my nephews looking up to Frodo and Spongebob – they need some virile, animated role models to show them how to beat up communists and manipulate villains.
This search for cool, violent toys got me reminiscing about the nostalgic cartoons/toys of a bygone era – the 1980’s. For all of its shortcomings (neon, Reagan, crack, Don Johnson, big hair) the 1980’s were the “golden age” of bad-ass cartoons. He-Man, Thundercats, TMNT, Transformers, VOLTRON – cool toys AND great cartoons. A lost art…
When did it become uncool to be a bad-ass cartoon character that never loses? In the 1980’s all of the best cartoons were bad-asses who always prevailed over their enemies and, in turn, embodied American supremacy. In 1987, He-Man was wrecking shop on Skeletor and his cronies and Ford had 5 of the top 10 sellers in America. But today, Spongebob is working at a fast food joint and GM is getting housed by Toyota…coincidence?
China wanted no part of America in 1987 when He-Man and his crew were raising crack babies…
…. when He-man and his crew were raising crack babies. LOL. And no lie, I’ve been working on the Cody post for a couple days… very timely title, Trav.
No no no. No coincedence at all. The only difference between us and the colonials in the 1700’s is that they had a back bone.