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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Our original plan was to run an election-centric Lunchtime Quiz, but we’re guessing you’re getting your share of politics elsewhere today. (On mental_floss alone, before the polls close, you can read up on Cindy McCain and notable third-party candidates.)
So instead of swing states and the electoral college, let’s talk about MASK and He-Man and Rainbow Brite. After you’ve finished the quiz, come on back and write-in your favorite childhood cartoon in the comments.
Take the Quiz: 80’s Cartoons
Comments (28)
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OH my goodness! You actually have a PICTURE of DangerMouse!!! Nobody else ever knows what the heck I’m talking about when I say, “Oh, carrots!”
posted by Tea on 11-4-2008 at 11:48 am
Great quiz! I miss the 80’s cartoons. I didn’t get any of the boy-type cartoon ones except for Voltron. I counted the lion heads in the picture and took a guess. :O)
posted by Tricia on 11-4-2008 at 12:07 pm
My favorite cartoon has to be Pinky and the Brain. Even though I wasn’t exactly a kid when it came out.
Pinky – “What are we going to do tonight Brain?”
Brain – “Same thing we do every night…try to take over the world!”
also –
“Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
Uh, I think so, Brain, but we’ll never get a monkey to use dental floss.
and so, so many others. Check out the link under my nickname.
posted by wheel on 11-4-2008 at 12:08 pm
Oh, man. I, like, totally would have rocked out if there had been a Kidd Video question in there!
posted by Debi on 11-4-2008 at 12:12 pm
DangerMouse! That was one of the best cartoons ever. The last day it was on the air, they ran a full-day marathon of it and I blew off all of my friends to sit home and watch all of it. It’s out on DVD now!
posted by Amber on 11-4-2008 at 12:15 pm
I did horrible on this quiz especially the boy cartoons. But I was very happy to see Jem listed as that was my favorite show back then. I still have my Jem barbie doll stored away.
posted by Gina on 11-4-2008 at 12:17 pm
“Crums DM!” Love Dangermouse.
posted by ben on 11-4-2008 at 12:36 pm
13/15! I missed the Rainbow Brite one (chalk it up to being a boy) and had completely forgotten why Uncle Scrooge had the nephews on DuckTales.
There are a few favorites I didn’t see:
Silverhawks
The Bionic Six
C.O.P.S.
BraveStarr
Inhumanoids
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Defenders of the Earth
…I could go on all day.
Great quiz and thanks for the break from election-mania.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 11-4-2008 at 1:07 pm
MASK…oh how I love thee!! I talk about that cartoon all the time and only an elite few know what I am referring too. I remember “back in the day” USA had all these awesome cartoons like Roman Holiday and Dunebuggy! 80s Cartoons..there will be nothing like them…
posted by Soundgirl on 11-4-2008 at 1:15 pm
MASK…how I loved thee!! T-bob! I had crushes on all the guys on the MASK team. No one ever knows what I am talking about whenever I refer to that cartoon. I also remember USA network had weekday morning cartoons like Roman Holiday and Dunebuggy! 80s cartoons..there will never be anything like them…(sniff, sniff)…
posted by Soundgirl on 11-4-2008 at 1:18 pm
Anything Super-Friends.
posted by Todd S on 11-4-2008 at 1:53 pm
10/15. Next time, Gadget. Next time!!! (Reeeoooowwwrrrr)
posted by stacy on 11-4-2008 at 1:53 pm
Where were the DangerMouse questions? Huh, Penfold? Sounds like the work of Baron Silas Greenback to me…
posted by stuart on 11-4-2008 at 1:57 pm
When I was a kid, my friend and I wrote stories about the MASK characters (her little brother subjected us to the show), and we totally made it a soap opera with all of the characters falling in love with each other. We wrote fan fiction before fan fiction was cool! (Oh, wait…)
posted by Shasta on 11-4-2008 at 2:40 pm
From one of the funniest books ever, The Book of Ratings by Lore Fitzgerald Sjoberg:
THUNDERCATS
Lion-O
Where to begin? His passing resemblance to Ronald McDonald? The fact that “Lion-O” is such a lame name as to make He-Man look like Harrison Ford by comparison? The really sad thing is that his furry pals seem to be unable to accomplish much without him, or more accurately without his sword. Many episodes follow the basic plot of “Lion-O is off somewhere being distracted while the Mutants attack. The ThunderCats fail to defend themselves in spite of the fact that the Mutants have shown themselves to have all the competency of a dead computer superstore employee. Lion-O makes his way back, uses his sword to summon theme music, and defeats the Mutants with the Generic Blue Beam of Justice. Then he says something marginally coherent and they all laugh.” Not exactly epic quality.
C-
Tygra
Wasn’t Tygra one of the two girls who liked the cars that go boom in the eighties? That would be welcome news, because at least that would establish some sort of personality for this, the blandest mammal on Third Earth. After repeated viewings, I was still unable to determine any attitudes, preferences, or quirks that might set him apart from the other ThunderCats. Except he has a little whip thingie.
C
Cheetara
She’s telepathic, telekinetic, and telegenic. Her main power is to move from place to place so quickly that she seems to teleport. Impressive, except that the frame rate on the ThunderCats is so crappy that pretty much everyone seems to be jumping from place to place. She just does it with more style. But at least she has style. She’s got the best look of the ‘Cats, which isn’t saying much considering that her major competitor is Panthro’s “Bondage Meets Tonka” look.
B
WilyKat and/or WilyKit
“Thunderkittens.” That’s what they’re called. Kind of an odd juxtaposition of power and cuddliness, don’t you think? Sounds like something out of a Hallmark creation myth. In my intensive research, I noticed that WilyK(a|i)t didn’t always show up to Lion-O’s little impromptu ass-kicking sessions. Were they temps? Did they just have better things to do, being fun-loving free-spirited young’uns? Or perhaps — I’m just guessing here — Rankin-Bass didn’t want to shell out the cash for the full voice ensemble to show up for every episode.
C+
Panthro
Um. He fixes things. And he drives the tank. You know, this is why I’ve put off covering the Thundercats for so long, in spite of several requests. They’re not that interesting, people. It’s not like I can sit here and say “Well, Panthro’s attempts to reconcile his desire for acceptance with his fear of intimacy make for a fascinating melange of hope and self-loathing that all of us have faced in our lives.” He fixes things! he drives the tank! He’s blue! Aside from that, he’s just like the rest of them, alternating bland moralism with soft-core violence.
C-
Snarf
And then we get to the inevitable short annoying sidekick. Snarf has a personality, in the same sense that tainted pork products have flavor. My question, though, is this. If the rest of the team is made up of human-sized, human-shaped cats, and Snarf is basically cat-sized and cat-shaped, then why isn’t Snarf just a basic cat? Wouldn’t that make more sense — and be substantially more aesthetically apealling — than his actual form, which seems like some sort of god-mocking cross between a cat, a lizard, and Jerry Garcia.
D
He also has a great rating on He-Man :)
posted by Mike on 11-4-2008 at 3:26 pm
No Danger Mouse questions! You owe us a “pardon-ay, Baron-ay!”
posted by loripop on 11-4-2008 at 4:22 pm
So you have Danger Mouse, but what about Count Duckula? The intro used to creep me out as a kid.
Also, like Gina, I still have my Jem doll.
Interesting trivia note about the Jem doll: Jem’s high heels and outfits fit Ken dolls almost perfectly.
Not that I tried that….
posted by Greta on 11-4-2008 at 6:37 pm
Oh, Jem! I made myself a Jem costume for Halloween this year. … Nobody at our church party knew who I was. *sigh*
posted by Allanna on 11-4-2008 at 7:36 pm
“Greeting” cards, not “Greating” cards.
Other than that, good quiz.
posted by ed on 11-5-2008 at 7:48 am
I second the Danger Mouse tease… thats just low. Meanwhile back in London…..
The British cartoons .. DM and Duckula were far superior.
posted by cassy on 11-5-2008 at 11:48 am
UGH I’ve had the MASK theme song stuck in my head for the last 20 years
posted by chris on 11-5-2008 at 12:28 pm
Rainbow Brite!
I had the doll, the horse, and a bunch of those sprites!
Care Bears Sucked (although I still have mine)
Did anyone see the Rainbow Brite skit RobotChicken did?
I actually tried listening to the recaptcha, creepy….
posted by Shelley on 11-5-2008 at 1:41 pm
Just want to be a loser nitpick here: Although Snake-Eyes is definitely not part of COBRA, neither is Destro. Destro just works with COBRA.
posted by Pubby on 11-5-2008 at 1:51 pm
Pubby: Woah. Good point! I didn’t even catch that. Destro is the head of MARS, a weapons manufacturer whose primary client is COBRA. Still, I’d say he’s more aligned with COBRA than he is GI Joe, so I’d say the question is still valid.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 11-5-2008 at 2:49 pm
Dinosaucers!!!
Best Theme Ever EVER
posted by Ryan Lee on 11-6-2008 at 12:51 am
Wheel, Pinky and the Brain was from the late 90’s, not the 80’s!
posted by Craig on 11-6-2008 at 12:50 pm
Umm, embarrassed to admit it, by my favorite is Wildfire. Seems like I’m the only who remembers it too.
posted by Mare on 11-6-2008 at 7:16 pm
Tranformers, duh!
posted by Greg on 11-17-2008 at 12:42 pm