Press Start

Welcome back, everyone! Today’s entry will be focused on video game characters!

Jumping right in, we’ll start with Mario. Since this is the Furry Waves, though, we won’t be looking at Mario or his friends here. No, instead, we’ll be taking a look at Bowser! He’s got a couple of sets.

First, from ‘The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3’, we have Reign Storm, and in this scene, Bowser is blowing up a dam that Mario and Luigi are giving a speech on.

And the weirdest part? This plot actually works!

Alright, the second set with Bowser is from the ‘Super Mario Bros. Super Show’ (that’s the one with Captain Lou), from the episode ‘Little Red Riding Princess’, wherein Bowser tries to ambush Princess Toadstool as she crosses a river. Unlike the last set, this… doesn’t go so well.

Hey, Bowser, nice dress.

Now, here’s one with his minions, specifically, a Boom Boom and a hammer brother. This one is from ‘The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3’s ‘The Venice Menace’.

To end off the day, we’re going to a quick look at Crash Bandicoot. Since Warped, the third game in the series, SCUBA diving has been a fairly regular part of the games. I won’t bother with screenshots from the games themselves, but I will show some other things here…

There have been three SCUBA Crash figures released over the years, to my knowledge. The first was released by Resaurus around 1998. These pictures are of the figure that I have. Missing the stand, unfortunately, but he’s got everything else.

Second figure was actually released just this year by NECA, and it looks amazing. This, among the other figures in this line, was released in honor of the N. Sane Trilogy release last year.

For more shots of the figure, take a look at Toyark’s article on it.

Finally, there’s this Funko Pop.

Here’s a sprite from The Wrath of Cortex.

Finally, we have some stuff from video game magazines. These are from the Saudi Arabian magazine Alhaab Al-Computer and from the Italian publication Playstation Power.

These images are from Crashy News, specifically this article, and this other article.

Well, that’s all for this week, everyone. See you again in two weeks!

The Frogmen

Welcome back, everyone.  Today, we’re going to look at some frogs!

What else did you think I meant in the title?  😉

Getting right to it, we’ll start with some shots from Crazy Frog’s 2005 video, Popcorn.

Next up, we have the Frogger episode, Spaced Out Frogs, from 1983.  This was part of the Saturday Supercade show.

There’s also another episode of this called ‘The Great Scuba Scoop’, but alas, I’ve never been able to find it.

Here, we have a Sugar Smacks commercial from 1978, starring Dig ‘Em Frog.

Finally, from Strange Adventures 155, a bit of reverse scuba here…

That’s all for this week, folks.  Come back next week!

 

One More Round with Franklin

Welcome back, everyone!  Today, as promised, we’ll look at the animated examples of Franklin in the collection.

Before that, though, here’s an interesting fact for you.

Most fans of Franklin today have noted that Franklin, his little sister Harriet, and Bear’s little sister Beatrice are the only characters properly named in the show.  However, did you know that in the French version of the cartoons and books, Benjamin, every single one of his friends has a proper name?  Here they are…

Bear = Martin (His little sister becomes Pupuce)
Beaver = Lili
Rabbit = Basil
Fox = Raffin
Snail = Arnaud
Skunk = Eloise
Otter = Aurelle
Raccoon = Matthew
Goose = Beatrice (yup, same as Bear’s sister in the English version)
Badger = Odile

Alright, let’s get to the pics.  This shot is from ‘Franklin and Otter’s Visit’.

Next, this is from ‘Franklin’s Birthday Party’.

Next up, we have ‘Franklin’s Submarine’.

Here, we have ‘Franklin and the Swimming Party’.

Finally, to end off, this is from ‘Franklin and Wolvie’.

I can totally appreciate that a variety of characters from this show ended up in the collection.  Half a dozen, if you include Fox’s brief appearance yesterday.

Now you might be wondering, what about the newer CGI-cartoon, Franklin and Friends?

Well, gotta be honest, there’s nothing to show.  Nothing that qualifies for this collection anyway. Only thing was that pic from the weather app that was shown yesterday.

They sure teased it enough, though.  With stuff like this…

And this…

And this…

And even a special that looked like a prime opportunity, but came up empty for me.

To add to the frustration, the show itself wasn’t very good either.  The original had some good writing.  This show just… didn’t.  Yes, I know I’m not the show’s target audience, but I know what I like.  The CGI Babar cartoon, also made by Nelvana, came out much better, in my opinion.

So this ends my mini-special on Franklin the Turtle.  Hopefully, some new stuff will pop up at some point, and if it does, I’ll definitely post about it.  Like I said, I have a soft spot for the Franklin franchise, so I’m totally rooting for it.  I just hope that Franklin and Friends doesn’t end up as his last gasp.  That’d be a damn shame.

He Counts By Twos…

… and ties his (nonexistent) shoes.  Welcome back, everyone!

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be showing of the bits of my collection with Franklin the Turtle and his friends.  I’ve always had a soft spot for him, being Canadian and such.

In addition to the books and animation that this will naturally focus on, Franklin (also known as Benjamin in French, and thus in anything sold in Quebec) has also had a stamp line issued by the national postal service, Canada Post.

This year is the 30th anniversary of his first book ‘Franklin in the Dark’, and the 20th anniversary of his animated debut, so I thought this was as good a time as any to show this off.

Starting off with the books, then.  First, here’s a scene from ‘Franklin is Bossy’.

Gotta say, Fox looks like he’s kinda just… lurking here.  Hmm…

By the way, here’s the animated version.

Next, from Franklin Forgets, wherein Franklin agrees to water Mr Mole’s garden while he’s away.  No prizes for guessing what happens.

Next, here’s one from Frankin and the Magic Show.

Here’s something from Franklin’s Big Search-and-Solve Flap Book.  Apologies for the very small size.

A page from the Franklin Annual Volume 2.  This is a part of a ‘what’s out of place’ exercise.

Finally, this last set is from Franklin Forgives.

To end today, we’ll look at some odds and ends.

These are from the Franklin the Turtle: Goes to School CD-ROM.

And this is from the Franklin and Friends Weather App

Well, that’s going to be it for today, everyone.  Come back tomorrow where we’ll look at the animated stuff!

Turtle Power!

Welcome back, everyone!  Hope my American viewers had an excellent Thanksgiving yesterday.

Today, we’re going to look into those totally rad turtles of time, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Surprised?

Well, you probably shouldn’t be; they’re not sea turtles, after all.  Indeed, they had a somewhat decent chunk of scuba-type samples in their repertoire.

The 80s/90s show was a major part of my childhood.  I loved it.  Sadly, I never got into the comics that preceded them.

In the first animated example I know of, we have Donatello ambushing some Foot Soldiers in ‘Pizza By the Shred’.

The other animation example I have is from ‘What a Croc’ in 2004, where Mikey tracks Leatherhead to his lair and nearly gets snuffed in the process.

Certainly the most unique scuba rig I’ve seen any of them use.

Moving on to figures now, here’s Navy Seal Mike from the 1992 Mutant Military 2 line.

Next up is Scuba Divin’ Raph from 1994.

We have the Deep Divin’ series from 2004.

Finally, here’s Submergence Specialist Mike, which is apparently so rare, it’s questionable whether or not it was actually released.

Here’s a comic page from an unknown Turtles story.  Actually, if anyone knows where this is from, I’d love to know about it.

Here’s an old mask and snorkel set…

A shot from the book ‘A B C’s For a Better Planet’.  This book actually caused some controversy in Canada’s beef industry when it came out in 1991 for it’s negative depiction of beef.

To end off today, here’s some pages from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magazine Issue 9.

Well, folks, that’s all I have of our heroes in a half shell (never understood the half shell thing myself).  Come back next week for… something, I’m not sure what.

I’m sure it’ll be gripping, though.

A Fox, Three Chicks… and a Land Shark?!

Welcome back, folks.  I’ve gotten back from my vacation, and now I have something new for you today.

Today, I’ll be showing some stuff I’ve gotten from the India-based cartoon Eena Meeka Deeka.  The general idea is that the fox Bhukkad is always after the titular chicks, Eena, Meeka, and Deeka, for supper.  Simple, right?

Well, it’s a kids cartoon, so it never works out that way, of course.

I’ll be showing what I have over the next couple of days.  First, I’ll be showing shots from the episode “Under Sea”.

As you can see, purple is totally Bhukkad’s color.

Oh, look, the fish already don’t like him.  Surprise.

Well, there’s one way of catching one’s prey…

… or not.

Jumping ahead a bit, Bhukkad makes friends with more of the local wildlife…

He’s seen enough Japanese tentacle porn to know how ends.

He finally catches up with the chicks again.

Oh yes, did I mention that one of the chicks has the ability to ‘hulk up’ and turn into that?  Yep.

With that, we come to the end of this set.  This next one from ‘Shark Attack’ doesn’t have any of the main characters as the ‘subject’ here.  See for yourself…

Yes, folks, that is a shark in a reverse scuba setup… over a regular diving mask.

It’s best if we just don’t think too much about how stupid this is and just carry on.

So our heroes damage this scientist shark (because those exist, apparently) amidst their usual hijinks, and incur his wrath.

His controlling water and electricity wrath.  Oh deary me.

Also, someone’s not in a sharing mood.

Wow, that must be the fastest acting freezer ever…

Time for round 2…

And one more time, because this shark CLEARLY loved his laboratory.  Also, he’s surely gotta change the water in that tank soon…

Well, this shark is completely screwed; once that water he’s breathing through becomes too stale and de-oxygenated to breathe with, that cement will ensure he’ll suffocate very quickly.  Hope he’s got some helping fins handy…

Come back tomorrow, where I’ll show pics from one more episode!  Until then!

 

Ollie’s Undersea Hijinks Part 2

And we’re back for part 2 of Ollie’s undersea education in pain.

So last we left off, Ollie had just caught a rather large fish in his net, and now cue the chase scene!

He just… pulled a slab off of himself. We usually wait until they’re dead before sectioning off the cow, Ollie.

Wow, he’s actually got the courage to fight back a bit.

Well, this is one way to escape.

Oh, look, the hippo’s back, and now Ollie’s a dentist. Hope he gave that hippo a hefty bill.

Jumping ahead a bit here, Ollie now meets one of the local octopi. He actually does get the better of this encounter though.

Treasure time! Also, king of the jellyfish. And dog skeletons. Ollie clearly forgot his holy water and crucifix.

Oh, look, shells! And guarding them is… some walrus kid.

And cue another chase scene! The kid is clearly more than a match for the cow here…

However, Ollie doesn’t forgive slights easily, and he catches the kid napping. We don’t generally approve of watching children while they sleep, Ollie, parents notwithstanding.

Speaking of parents… OH MY GOD! Tuck your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye, Ollie.

Apparently, he survived that encounter, and is back for one last bit. What finally sends him packing? Shark with a taste for moo-cow? Clams with teeth? A walrus that looks like he’d swallow him whole? Nope, electric eels!

This wasn’t quite the last of Ollie aquatic experience, though; he had a shorter bit.

Clam beds, that you lie in. Shocking that this isn’t an actual trend, somehow.

Tooth brushing with crocs. Always a safe activity. Also, yes, his snorkel is in his nose.

Here’s one way to deal with a big fish if they, you know, happened to have perfectly placed holes in their face.

Finally, to end off, Ollie gets to meet some whales.

So that’s all from this series that I know of that fits into this blog. He does do some more stuff involving helmets, improvised subs, and so on, but that falls outside of this blog’s scope. For the stuff above, look up “Undersea Ollie” and “Boes – Onderwater”

Fall Week continues tomorrow!

Fall

Welcome back, aquaphiles.

Today is the first day of Fall! The leaves are changing color and falling, farmers are harvesting, and many animals in the woods are getting ready for winter.

So for five days this week, I’ll be posting stuff that kinda lines up with that.

To start us off, I thought I’d post shots from a show called Ox Tales, which only ran for a year in Japan initially from March 1987 to April 1988. It was based off of the Dutch comic strip Boes by Wil Raymakers and Thijs Wilms, and was translated into several other languages, including English. The comic still continues in Dutch publications to this day, actually.

The protagonist, Ollie (renamed Boes in a later dub in 2010) the Ox, runs the Funny Farm, which supposedly has every creature concievable within it.

So is it a farm, or a zoo? Eh, whichever.

Anyway, Ollie’s had a couple of trips under the sea. Let’s see here…

The turtle is Jack, his best friend. Also, stripes do not flatter you, Ollie. Just sayin’.

Oh, and he’s about to jump off of a cliff. Let’s see how well THIS goes!

Oh look, a hippo in the ocean. You’re a long way from home, I fear…

Wow, this looks like it would tickle… a lot.

Oh, great, what did you see, Ollie? A sea cow? *Ba-Dum-Tsh*

Nope, it’s a clam! With an attitude.

Gotcha, bitch!

…. or not. More clams with teeth? Guess Bernard and Ollie can start an Ostraconophobia (that is, fear of crustaceans, including clams) club.

Yeah, Ollie, I think you should just forget the clams.

The cow with no face, everyone.

You were wondering how long it’d be before the shark showed up, didn’t you?

And I think I’ll leave it there for today. Will Ollie be shark food? Probably not, but come back tomorrow for part 2 of Ox Tales’ entry here anyway!