History Blog / PlatypusComix

* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: Peter comments in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/superbowl28-1.html Super Bowl Past-Blast: 1994]]" that he only remembers [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/superbowl28-3.mp4 an ad for the 1994 Isuzu Rodeo]] just for the "Gut-Be-Gone" the man in the commercial recieves for his birthday.

* ShaggyDogStory: "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/onlyme/treasuretruck.html My Encounter With the Treasure Truck]]" recounts Peter's efforts to find an Amazon truck selling [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super NES Classic]] console overstock, and purchase a console for himself. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he ultimately learns that the Treasure Truck only gives the SNES Classic to people who pre-ordered it from Amazon's website, which sold out by the time Peter found the truck. Fortunately, he eventually bought an SNES Classic from Target, instead.]]

This is why you can’t believe everything you read in Nintendo Power...remember, they described the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]]’s memory capacity as “Fatter than Jennifer Villarreal!”

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads4.html V-The Final Battle]]" ends with some intriguing advertisements for [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/guide413.JPG various]] [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/guide414.JPG movies]] [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/guide47.JPG playing]] that year-- ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'', ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'', and [[spoiler:''It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown''.]]

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: [[invoked]] Discussed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]", using ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' as examples. They both launched new genres in their respective mediums (''Superman'' the superhero comic, ''Doom'' the first person shooter video game), and both became perceived as quaint by fans of later entries in those genres.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: [[invoked]] Peter admits in the "Super Bowl Past-Blast" articles that the special effects in such ads as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ7RI3Lt0QY this 1992 Exxon Supreme commercial]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivJ50kcaeI8 this 1985 canned foods promo]] might seem less revolutionary today than when they first aired.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: [[invoked]] Discussed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]", using ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' as examples. They both launched new genres in their respective mediums (''Superman'' the superhero comic, ''Doom'' the first person shooter video game), and both became perceived as quaint by fans of later entries in those genres.

* {{Chickification}}: Discussed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]" The "Stepford Lois" section laments how TheFifties eliminated ComicBook/LoisLane's strong-willed personality to make her a DamselInDistress who dreamed only of marrying ComicBook/{{Superman}}.

** Peter [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/freespirit.html admitted]] that he expected to find ''Free Spirit'' as lame as most Creator/{{ABC}} sitcoms from TheEighties, but Winnie Goodwin "enchanted" him so strongly, he plowed through all the episodes he received just to see more of her. After he finished, he even decided to write [[Webcomic/FreeSpirit2014 some comics]] about Winnie and her friends.

* {{iProduct}}: Discussed in "[[http://platypuscomix.com/educational/touchofyogurt.html Seven Failed Brand Crossovers]]"; the section about "Colgate TV Dinners" explains that TV dinners got their name to ride off of how high-tech and advanced it seemed to own a TV back then, musing that TheNewTens equivalent would bear the name, "[=iDinners=]".

* ThisIsGoingToSuck: "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14.html Fall 1982]]" ends with a two-page ad for a sitcom from TheEighties. [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14-27.jpg The first]] consists almost entirely of "Ha!"'s written in Dom Casual and urging you to turn the page to find out what's so funny, making Peter comment, "Whenever I see something like this, I groan. There's no way what's on the other side of the page is anything but a painfully unfunny, rightfully forgotten show[=---=]" [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14-28.jpg The second page]] reveals the ad as [[spoiler:a ''Cheers'' promo, eliciting the response, "[=---=]well, I think I'll shut up now."]]

* BlatantLies: He claims that the videos in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/videos/lifedayads.html The Ads of the Star Wars Holiday Special]]" look blurry and distorted because he "applied a special filter" to protect readers from the cheesiness of TheSeventies.

* {{Irony}}: In "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/youlllikepals.html Sabrinas Through Time II]]", Peter calls ComicBook/{{Sabrina| The Teenage Witch}}'s then-latest animated show, ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaSecretsOfATeenageWitch'', "limply-animated" by TheNewTens standards. A reader might expect her first cartoon appearance, the Creator/{{Filmation}} TV special ''Archie and His New Pals'', to have even worse visuals. Surprisingly, Peter ends the article by noting the special had a noticeable AnimationBump compared to the studio's other work. A clip he embedded of the musical number "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0NQD0vl2_w You Need an Image]]" (which he acknowledges as an EarWorm) illustrates this.
-->I'm in a bit of disbelief that it bears the Filmation label, given that the one nice thing I can say about Sabrina's first TV appearance is that it's decently animated for [[TheSixties 1969]]. At no point is anybody [[LimitedAnimation standing still with dead eyes and their mouth moving]], there are no really long pans of static backgrounds, and [[StockFootage only one shot is reused]] (the image of Reggie in the Nixon pose). Everyone displays a variety of vivid facial expressions. Normally Filmation had a [[DumbJock Moose]]-level ineptitude about these things.

* WidgetSeries: What Peter [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/hollywood/bettytoons.html says of]] ''Betty Toons''.
-->The basic plot isn't that hard to piece together, but when things get weird, they get Weird with a capital W.

** Peter [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/freespirit.html admitted]] that he expected to find ''Free Spirit'' as lame as most Creator/{{ABC}} sitcoms from TheEighties, but Winnie Goodwin [[JustForPun enchanted]] him so strongly, he plowed through all the episodes he received just to see more of her. After he finished, he even decided to write [[Webcomic/FreeSpirit2014 some comics]] about Winnie and her friends.

* {{Chickification}}: Discussed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]" The "Stepford Lois" section laments how TheFifties eliminated ComicBook/LoisLane's strong-willed personality to make her a DamselInDistress who dreamed only of marrying Franchise/{{Superman}}.

* IWarnedYou: In "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]," Peter comments, "The Franchise/{{Superman}} concept is bizarre in nature, and it's certainly resulted in a lot of bizarre literature. (Scroll down the page to see [[PlantPerson Superman as a tree]].)" After the reader sees [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/supertree.jpg that cover]], he quips, "Told ya."

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: [[invoked]] Discussed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/hallofsupershame.html Superman's Hall of Super-Shame!]]", using ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' as examples. They both launched new genres in their respective mediums (''Superman'' the superhero comic, ''Doom'' the first person shooter video game), and both became perceived as quaint by fans of later entries in those genres.

* NerdsAreVirgins: When [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/hallowinnie.html discussing]] the ''Free Spirit'' Halloween special, the sight of Winnie [[MagiciansAreWizards using her witchcraft to perform stage magic]] prompts Peter to recount which comic marked the debut of ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}'s father, Zatara the Magician ("...ComicBook/ActionComics #1, right after Franchise/{{Superman}}."), since the two of them also used that shtick. He then offhandedly admits that he doesn't have a girlfriend yet.

* PopularityPolynomial:[[invoked]] " [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/kidzone/gack.html Can Batman survive without Scooby-Doo?]]" comments that during the '90s, Franchise/SpiderMan had become less popular than Franchise/{{Batman}}, who had ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' to bolster his popularity. However, ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' eventually killed Bats' reputation, while Spidey regained fame through [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Sam Raimi's movies]].

* InNameOnly: "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads12.html Winter 1992]]" comments that the animated series ''WesternAnimation/FishPolice'' had almost nothing in common with [[Comicbook/FishPolice the comic of the same name]]. Peter theorizes that after Creator/HannaBarbera finished coming up with the concept for the show, they found out ItsBeenDone by an independent cartoonist, and subsequently paid him to use the title so that he wouldn't sue them for using a similar premise.

** Invoked on Peter's behalf when he decided to celebrate Franchise/SpiderMan's 50th anniversary with [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/spiderstrip.html a review]] of [[ComicStrip/SpiderMan Spidey's newspaper comic]]. The storyline he reviewed made Peter and MJ pawns in Loki's scheme to take over Asgard, but with less drama and epicness than Peter hoped.

* GrandfatherParadox: In "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/movies.html Why I Don't Want to Travel Back in Time]]", Peter theorizes that if Marty [=McFly=] from ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' had indeed failed to make his parents fall in love, he would cease to exist, and therefore never prevent his parents' meeting in the first place, which means they ''would'' get married and give birth to Marty, who would eventually go back in time and make himself cease to exist... On [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/movies2.html the last page]], he realizes Stimpy from ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' also caused one after he pushed the History Eraser Button, and appeared to erase his own birth, raising the question of how Stimpy would push that button...

* HarsherInHindsight: [[invoked]] Lampshaded in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/people/waltblech.html Walt Disney: One Man's Nightmare]]." The TV special Peter reviewed in that article came out in 1981, and had Michael Landon as a host. In one of the segments promoting [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks EPCOT Center]], concept art for [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/people/onemansdream40.jpg an airplane capable of space travel]] appears, and Landon says, "Hope I'm still around," unaware he would die only 10 years later.

* {{Irony}}: Two of the channels listed in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/hollywood/disconnected.html Cable Networks That Never Made It]]" still exist, but have undergone NetworkDecay since they began. Creator/{{MTV}}'s inclusion was PlayedForLaughs ever since Peter first wrote the article, but he has admitted that he didn't learn about CBN's transformation into Creator/ABCFamily until after the article's publication.

* TheArtifact: "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/kidzone/comingtodvdnever.html Why you may never see some of your favorite childhood shows on DVD]]", a list of shows whose fans need to KeepCirculatingTheTapes, has some comments regarding Creator/FoxKids shows that stayed up for several years after some corporate exchanges, between Creator/{{Disney}}[[note]]who, according to the page, acquired a significant portion of Fox Kids' library while purchasing the [[Creator/ABCFamily Fox Family Channel]][[/note]] and such studios as Creator/SabanBrands, Creator/ShoutFactory, and Creator/MillCreekEntertainment, rendered them obsolete. For instance, the article ends with the lament, "It's a real tragedy moments like 'Fish Don't Stink' can't be legally bought," followed by a link to the ''WesternAnimation/BobbysWorld'' [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/downloads/fishdontstink.html clip]]. Amazon started selling official ''Bobby's World'' DVD boxsets in 2012, but this ending remained.

** Referenced in the first ''Free Spirit'' [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/freespirit.html article]], saying the disappearance of the show without giving any closure robs us of "The really weak final season after Winnie and Thomas have [[TheyDo gotten married]], Creator/AlysonHannigan has [[PutOnABus left the series]], and [[CousinOliver an annoying little child has been adopted]]".

* OffModel: [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/publicdomain.html It Came from the Public Domain]] shows several eerily OffModel cartoon characters made to dodge copyrights.
!![[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideadsindex.html The Ancient Lost Art of]] ''Magazine/TVGuide'' [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideadsindex.html Advertising]]

** [[invoked]]The first section of the second page of the [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/kidzone/fullexperience/fe1-2.html Pokémon Full Experience]] suggests that Peter does not think very highly of the ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' games, claiming that they they were made "before [Creator/InsomniacGames] learned how to make games" and brushing Spyro himself off as just another "mascot with attitude" that tried to out-Sonic Sonic and fell into obscurity like all the other ones. ([[HilariousInHindsight Ironically]], Spyro would make [[VideoGame/{{Skylanders}} two]] [[VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy separate returns]], to much rejoicing and critical acclaim, only a few years after the article was published.)

* DorkAge: [[invoked]] Peter claims in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/boxcar.html The Boxcar Children (with colorful commentary)]]" that ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren'' became less exciting after Gertrude Chandler Warner made the children grow up, and that he appreciated her successors de-aging them.

* NamesTheSame: [[invoked]] Peter points out in his [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/winniewedding.html review]] of the ''Free Spirit'' episode "Blast From the Past" that Winnie's fiancee, Kevin, has the same first name as the main character of ''Series/TheWonderYears'', who also had a LoveInterest named Winnie.
-->Did they name him Kevin to make a sly Wonder Years reference? It took me a long time to put the two names together and realize that.

* TotallyRadical: Mentioned in the section's title.
* WereStillRelevantDammit: [[invoked]] Discussed in these pages:
** "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/history/exercise.html Sweatin' With Ronald]]" shows a UsefulNotes/McDonalds commercial with Ronald [=McDonald=] teaching exercise.
** PlayedForLaughs in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/videos/lifedayads.html The Ads of the Star Wars Holiday Special]]":
-->Where did all those pills go? 73% of the OTC products mentioned here are either no longer in production or just don't advertise. Are they recycled under new names, like when "[[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Ecto-Cooler]]" became "[[Music/JustinBieber Bieber ]]Snot"?[[labelnote:Fun Fact]][[TimeMarchesOn The original version of this article]] said "[[Music/TheJonasBrothers Jonas]] snot" instead.[[/labelnote]]

** In [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14.html Fall 1982]], after Peter explains that [[Series/FreeSpirit a show]] he discovered in ''TV Guide'' inspired him to create [[WebComic/FreeSpirit2014 a comic series based on it]], he asked, "Could it happen again? What in this new batch of scans could potentially be resurrected THIS time?" He immediately dismisses [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14-1.jpg the first advertised show]], ''Series/TuckersWitch''. This wasn't brought up again until a scan advertising the ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' episode "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads14-15.jpg The Mummy's Bride]]" appears.

** [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads13-16.jpg One of the ads]] in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/bored/tvguideads13.html Fall 1989]]" promotes ''Series/FreeSpirit'', a sitcom starring a CuteWitch who becomes a MagicalNanny to three motherless children. Paltridge points out Creator/AlysonHannigan, who would later play Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer's witchy companion Willow, portraying one of the children.

* {{Understatement}}: Peter admits in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/hollywood/specialhouseguests.html The Platypus Comix Almanac of Special Houseguests]]" that he "implied once or twice" that he likes Winnie Goodwin from ''Series/FreeSpirit''. By the time this almanac came out, Peter had already inserted Winnie into one comic each from ''Webcomic/ElectricWonderland'' and ''Webcomic/{{Keiki}}'', wrote about ''Free Spirit'' '''twice''' for the Dark TV Vault (see below), and even kicked off [[Webcomic/FreeSpirit2014 a series]] of ''Free Spirit'' FanWebComics.

* BadBadActing: In Peter's [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/hallowinnie.html coverage]] of the ''Series/FreeSpirit'' Halloween special, he admits that his first article about the show didn't include any clips of the now-most famous cast member, Creator/AlysonHannigan, because he didn't think she'd want people to see how unprofessionally she acted back then. However, since the Halloween special marks the only time the sitcom gave Hannigan's character ADayInTheLimelight, he shares [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/darkvault/winnie3.mp4 some footage of her]] anyway. Afterward, he tries to imitate her as best as he can through typing.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: [[invoked]] Lampshaded in "[[http://www.platypuscomix.net/people/waltblech.html Walt Disney: One Man's Nightmare]]." The TV special Peter reviewed in that article came out in 1981, and had Michael Landon as a host. In one of the segments promoting [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks EPCOT Center]], concept art for [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/people/onemansdream40.jpg an airplane capable of space travel]] appears, and Landon says, "Hope I'm still around," unaware he would die only 10 years later.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: "[[http://www.toonzone.net/blog/blogs/304/how-tv-guide-influenced-your-parents/ Parents' Guide to Kids TV]]" does not show any retro ads. Instead, it comments on how the MoralGuardians writing the children's television previews sometimes had overly strict standards, and also incorrectly predicted which shows would become successes and which ones [[ItWillNeverCatchOn would never catch on]].

* SpiritualAntithesis: Peter [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/hollywood/loser.html considers]] ''Film/{{Loser}}'' to be this towards ''Film/AmericanPie''.