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Context YMMV / Freakazoid

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8* AdaptationDisplacement: How many kids recognized the "Sneaking Song" from "The Island of Doctor Mystico" as "Carefully on Tiptoe Stealing" from ''Theatre/HMSPinafore''? Humorously enough, Paul Rugg would later direct an amateur production of it!
9* {{Adorkable}}:
10** Dexter has the nervous and socially awkward traits that tend to make nerdy characters like him likable.
11** One of the few traits Freakazoid shares with Dexter is his dorkiness, albeit more with an eye for pop culture.
12* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The ending of the "Fatman and Boy Blubber" sketch can be interpreted as either [[{{Hypocrite}} Fatman and Boy Blubber bullying Louis for his food right after defending him from bullies picking on him for his obesity]] or [[WellIntentionedExtremist forcibly trying to confiscate Louis' sweet buns so that he has a better chance at being physically healthy]].
13%%* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Bonjour, Lobey!" from the season 2 premiere, a parody of "Hello, Dolly!"
14* BaseBreakingCharacter: Steff. Some fans like her, others ''can't '''stand''' her'' (mainly because of her BitchInSheepsClothing and LovesMyAlterEgo attitude).
15* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
16** In a show this nutty, there's bound to be some. Most notably, any CutawayGag cutting to some live-action StockFootage.
17** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehw5YH9wEDY "The Chip, Part 2" ended with a video of a man wrestling a bear for no reason]], if only because [[AsHimself Mr. Jack Valenti]] said it would be featured in the story's prologue.
18** Whenever Cosgrove appears, it's usually so he can invite Freakazoid out to random activities mid-adventure, and then [[ContinueYourMissionDammit remind Freakazoid to get back to the plot]].
19* CrazyIsCool: Freakazoid. He's such a lunatic, even his theme song feels the need to warn you. He's no less awesome for it.
20* CultClassic: The show was not immensely popular on its original run, but was VindicatedByReruns (thanks to Creator/CartoonNetwork) and has a ''pretty damn massive'' fanbase for a cartoon its age in the modern day.
21* DiscreditedMeme: Candle Jack is [[SubvertedTrope discre--]][[DoubleSubverted Okay, in all seriousness]] the meme is often regarded as low hanging fruit humor-wise and can cause a text discussion of Freakizoid to devolve into cut-off nonsense. While people still like Candle Jack, a lot are also tired of him and his meme, and nowadays the more generally accepted version is Candlejack appearing to say something in spoiler tags, whether that be turning the initial text into a mid-sentence NonSequitur or just saying his piece after the last period. [[spoiler: Fair enough!]]
22* EndingFatigue: As noted on the audio commentary, there are several points where "Handman" could've ended, but the short kept going anyway. Tom Ruegger (who wrote it) copped to this trope, but Paul Rugg sincerely believed it made the short funny and that it freed them up to be as silly as possible in later episodes.
23-->'''Paul Rugg:''' If [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Steven]] said this was okay, we were golden.
24* EnsembleDarkhorse:
25** The great Sergeant Mike Cosgrove's underplaying ''everything'' is as funny (if not more) than LargeHam Freakazoid.
26** JustForFun/CandleJack made a big enough impact to spawn his own me-[[spoiler: Hey! Didn't you read the entry above? But yeah, I have loyal fans. Thank you very much.]]
27** [[DistaffCounterpart Freakazette]] has quite the fanbase and ''tons'' of fanart despite [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter having no lines and only appearing for all of]] ''[[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter three seconds]]'' [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter in the show]].
28** Mystico only appeared for about half of an episode, but is regarded as one of the most memorable one-off villains for how [[LargeHam utterly loud and bonkers he acts.]] Being one of the hammiest roles of Creator/TimCurry certainly helps.
29* FridgeBrilliance: Why is stone-serious, emotionally blank Sgt. Cosgrove friends with someone as off-the-wall nutty as Freakazoid? Because Freakazoid has [[LargeHam enough personality for the both of them]]!
30* GrowingTheBeard: Episode six, when the show dropped the skits and starting focusing on episodes with real stories in them that developed Freakazoid's main cast.
31* HarsherInHindsight:
32** The end line “He's here to save the nation/So stay tuned to this station/If not, we'll be unemployed…” (and the shot of the cast members in [[BankruptcyBarrel barrels]] to illustrate this) stops being funny when you realize that this show was canceled before its time due to low ratings.
33** Similarly, Roddy and Freakazoid have the following exchange in "Two Against Freak":
34--->'''Roddy:''' [[MindOverMatter Strength and speed will only take you so far, lad.]]\
35'''Freakazoid:''' [[SmugSuper It got me a second season!]]\
36'''Roddy:''' [[SuddenlyShouting You can't count on that!!]] [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Networks are fickle!]] [[TemptingFate They can drop you like a man with big oak fingers!]]
37** The episode "The Cloud" has a running gag in which characters lament the closure of the Motor Boat Cruise at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]]. Professor Heiny reassures Freakazoid that the Imagineers will come up with something even better to replace it. Fast-forward to 2018, and the attraction's land is still unutilized aside from the old loading dock being one of the few designated smoking areas in the park, as well as a seating area for a nearby foodstand. The canals for the attraction were also drained and destroyed in 2007.
38* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The series finale's inclusion of Music/VeraLynn's "We'll Meet Again" has become this due to the crossover episode with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' in 2020. It made the song true to its word. ''We did meet again''.
39* HilariousInHindsight:
40** Creator/BobChipman [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/6335-The-Prophesy-of-Freakazoid revisited the show in one of his Big Picture segments]], and found it an incredible source of ValuesResonance. He noted that at the time of the show, most people viewed the internet as the future of how we got information, not a completely screwy place as it was implied to be by Freakzoid being well, Freakazoid. Fast-forward and the Internet, while used for information, is a very screwy place indeed.
41** Series writer John P. [=McCann=] would later write the just as wacky but clearly more adult superhero show ''[[WebAnimation/LoboWebseries Lobo]]''. Lobo also has spiky hair like Freakazoid. What makes it even funnier is that Paul Rugg would have voiced Vril Dox's assistant in a family friendly ''ComicBook/{{Lobo}}'' cartoon before it got retooled to the adult oriented cartoon that stayed true to the comics.
42** In the very first episode when Cave Guy is going on a rampage a narrator suddenly chimes in that only [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman]] can save the day… unfortunately, his show was on another network (Creator/FoxKids) as opposed to Creator/KidsWB. Two years later, his show was brought back as ''The New Batman Adventures'' and wound up airing on Kids' WB (they had to wait for Fox's contract to run out).
43** In the episode "And Fan Boy Is His Name", Freakazoid tries to bargain with Fan Boy to leave him alone by offering an autograph picture of Creator/StanLee and then both dismissing him as someone they never heard of. Fan Boy only leaves Freakazoid when he finds Creator/MarkHamill signing autographs. Now, when you think about it, the routine was funny in and of itself in the 90's because Stan Lee created Creator/MarvelComics, the biggest rival of Warner Brothers owned Creator/DCComics, and ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies were distributed by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, one of Warner Brother's oldest rivals. However, as of 2019, Marvel, Star Wars, AND Fox are now owned by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Warner's biggest rival of all]]!
44** Freakazoid once said that the scariest thing would be if Creator/{{Sinbad}} had a second TV series. Well, that never exactly happened, [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse BUT…]]
45** JustForFun/CandleJack: Unexplained entity that kidnaps people who [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]], especially children? [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Didn't something else like that crop up]]?
46** The concept of Freakazoid being an internet-themed superhero rings even more true now that his particular brand of absurdist comedy is ''exactly'' what Internet culture has latched onto.
47** The [[WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest Toby Danger]] short became this when not even a year after it was broadcast, Time Warner's merger with [[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Turner Broadcasting]] made WB TV Animation and Creator/HannaBarbera sister companies (and the former eventually absorbed the latter). Hell, Lance Falk has admitted they used ''Toby Danger'' to demonstrate how Dr. Quest should sound during casting for the second season of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' (since WB had gotten Creator/DonMessick, Dr. Quest's original VO, to play the Quest {{Expy}} Dr. Vernon Danger).
48** This show wouldn't be the last time Creator/JeffBennett [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong voiced someone known as "The Huntsman"…]]
49** "Foamy The Freakadog" is a million times funnier when you know Paul Rugg himself had a similar dynamic with [[https://youtu.be/AdMgVkp4OXI his pet chihuahua, Lucky.]] The irony of it hadn’t escaped him either, as he [[http://froynlaven.blogspot.com/2009/07/trouble-with-lucky.html pointed it out on his blog back in 2009]].
50--->'''Paul Rugg:''' Somehow fate has deemed it so. I own Foamy The Freakadog.
51** In the episode "Next Time, Phone Ahead", two clips of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' intro are shown. Combine them together, and this becomes an intro that's similar to the one used for ''Animaniacs'' on Nickelodeon, minus the pitch-shift.
52* HoYay: It's heavily implied the only reason The Lobe commits crime is so Freakazoid will chase him.
53* JerkassWoobie: The Lobe. He's thoroughly, unrepentantly evil, and kind of pathetically adorable.
54* MemeticBadass:
55** Cosgrove is arguably one in-universe. He can stop ''any'' hoodlum by pointing at them and saying "Hey! Cut it out." He even got the '''Warner siblings''' to settle down in a [[http://majorspoilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ani4.jpg comic crossover]] with ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', which was recognized as no small feat.
56** And let us not forget, JustForFun/CandleJack can kidnap ''anyone'' who says… [[OhCrap DANG IT!]]
57* MemeticMutation:
58** JustForFun/CandleJack[[labelnote:Explanation]]An InterruptingMeme based on how Candle Jack kidnaps anyone who says his name out loud. The novel nature of the concept resulted in many people online deliberately cutting short any posts where they mention him, making it seem as if he snatched them away mid-sentence.[[/labelnote]]
59%%** "Hey. Cut it out." (Zero-Context Example)
60%%** "Laugh with me, Jocko!" (Zero-Context Example)
61** The "You wanna see something strange and mystical?" scene has been getting a lot of usage in {{YouTube Poop}}s lately.
62** "That's so very very sad."[[labelnote:Explanation]]Dexter's mom's response to his statement that his computer defines his life. The line became a common reaction clip in response to anything one deems pathetic.[[/labelnote]]
63%%** "NOT THE BOATS!" (Zero-Context Example)
64%%** "Have a good time now!" (Zero-Context Example)
65* PlayAlongMeme: Candle Jack, from the episode "Candlejack", is a bogeyman-like villain who appears to kidnap children [[SpeakOfTheDevil if his name is ever spoken out loud]]. This inspired a popular InterruptingMeme where fans pretend to be Candle Jack's victims by typing his name in a comment, then cutting off the text to make it appear as though Candle Jack himself has kidnapped them at that very moment. Sometimes, a NonSequitur will begin from where the original text is cut off, making it seem like Candle Jack also hijacked the user's computer for fun. [[spoiler:Did I miss anything?]]
66* RetroactiveRecognition:
67** Dexter Douglas is WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom.
68** [[Creator/CraigFerguson Roddy MacStew]] later became the host of ''Series/TheLateLateShow''.
69%%* SecondSeasonDownfall: And depressingly so. See MisaimedMarketing above.
70* SignatureScene: Freakazoid screaming at Jeepers to get away from him.
71* SpiritualAdaptation: While he has made appearances in animated shows, this is probably the closest we'll get to an AnimatedAdaptation of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}.
72* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
73** [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/kidswb/images/9/92/Freakazette.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080731180923 Freakazette]]. A DistaffCounterpart for Freakazoid who not only didn't get a single line, but only appeared for all of '''three seconds''' in the ''entire'' series, during the "Freakazoid and Friends" song.
74** There was a lot more potential for ''Toby Danger'' than just the one short.
75** [[TheStoic Dead]][[{{Shapeshifting}} pan]] could have easily carried a whole episode, but she only appeared in one pre-credit sequence.
76* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The show never focused on the relationship between Dexter and Freakazoid, and it was unclear whether Freakazoid was Dexter unhinged or an entirely separate character (Freakazoid himself acted like Dexter was a different person, but still considered Dexter's family his family). Likewise nothing ever came of Stephanie learning that Dexter and Freakazoid shared the same body.
77* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
78** The pilot episode's depiction of the internet, particularly of how it was obscure and difficult to access.
79** The show is very much a product of the 1990's, with many references to UsefulNotes/BillClinton, UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton, and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Princess Diana]], among others.
80** One segment involved Freakazoid doing a "test" of the Emergency Broadcast System. Two years after the episode aired, it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.
81** And then there's the whole bit about phone companies [[SeriousBusiness literally going to war]] over Bo-Ron -- this wasn't as exaggerated as you'd think, the landline phone business was big bucks back then and all the companies were very cutthroat about it; the rise of cell phones promptly saw the bottom fall out of the market in the 2000s.
82* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The show's more adult humor proved its downfall. The network promised to deliver the 2-11 demographic to advertisers. It flopped with them, but did well with [[PeripheryDemographic the 18-34 demographic]]. Attempts to suggest to Creator/TheWB to market it as such [[ScrewedByTheNetwork were completely ignored]] and the show was canceled as a result.
83* {{Woolseyism}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYtA3hM8iio The Brazilian version]], specially the hilarious LargeHam provided by Creator/GuilhermeBriggs as the title character (Briggs states Freakazoid is one of his all-time favorite characters), who even provides some adequate translations - "Better than a Thighmaster!" became "I'm stronger than Creator/MikeTyson!"

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