Contributed by Russell P.

I’ve noticed quite a bit of talking about laser weaponry being used in cartoons where it quite obviously isn’t apt. It’s already been pointed out that G.I. Joe used hand-held laser weaponry in a late 20th century setting. Yet the rest of the Cobra/G.I. Joe armory is more conventional Tanks, boats and jets! The ability to create hand-held laser weapons is more in keeping with a civilisation capable of short-range space travel, and hypersonic Ramjet craft, and even then they’d be specialist weapons and not frontline rifles.

So why are they used? I have a theory that it’s something to do with making shows a little less violent. The guns don’t sound like machine guns, but lasers, which is something much more acceptable (for whatever reason) to the censors. (Star Wars has a U rating, despite people getting killed through out, yet The A-Team (on video) I believe gets a PG, because there are fist fights and real guns)

A really good example of this, is in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles in the UK- “ninja” was deemed too violent. Yet the Samurai Pizza Cats escaped this rampant Political Correctness, perhaps owing to the honouristic nature of the Samurai in old Edo Dynasty Japan, whereas the Ninja was an Assassin for hire, a reprehensible character in Ancient Japan.) In the very first episode of TMNT, after Rocksteady and Bebop have been mutated into rhino and boar respectively (both traditional “brute” animals) they are given guns by Shredder and Krang and told to smash up the Town to lure the turtles out of hiding.

Aha, Krang is an advanced sentient from another dimension, you say? That would explain why they use laser weapons? Wrong! Rocksteady and Bebop quite clearly use contemporary automatic weapons, despite the fact that Krang could probably supply them with energy weapons! Aside from the sound the guns made, they left bullet holes in the sides of cars and walls, as opposed to “splashing” as cartoon lasers tend to (obviously it is easier to draw the blast evaporating and leaving no damage). A pretty rare thing in cartoons!

In all other episodes of TMNT everybody uses laser weapons (including those gangsters who pop up every now and again, although they may have obtained them via their deal with Shredder).

Machine guns are to closer to real life weapons, and real violence; lasers are a fantasy weapon, and one that can “stun” as opposed to kill. This part becomes clear in Transformers, where in the The Movie, one blast from Galvatron’s gun is enough to disintegrate Starscream at his coronation, yet in subsequent episodes of Transformers, Galvatron’s gun at best can knock someone over and make them a little dazed.

The exact power of the laser gun is flexible, where as if you have guns that correspond to conventional weapons it becomes harder to avoid violence.

All this said, I notice that G.I. Joe, Transformers and other similar cartoons are never hesitant to use missile technology. Many Transformers had missile launchers strapped to their sides (Tracks, Ultra Magnus, Hound, to name but three) and many tanks and planes in G.I Joe had missiles. What tended to happen  would be that the missiles would miss, but the resultant explosion would be enough fling the target to safety, or collapse the entrance to a cave.

The usage of laser weapons fueled the techno-dreams of the 80′s youth and avoided over-violence. It also allowed for colour-coding of fire (orange for Autobot, purple for Decepticon, red for G.I. Joe blue for Cobra and so on) which made things clearer. Even Star Wars did this! (red Rebels, green Imperial, and blue for Ion cannon)

This still happens today in things like the revamped Marvel shows (X-Men, Spiderman, Ironman, etc.). I can’t think of many exceptions to the rule, I think maybe Batman the Animated Series may use conventional guns. The only one I know that did for sure is G-Force (AKA Battle of the Planets) where Galactor’s troopers had machines gun that were always easily dodged by the G-Force team.

Most of the staff here at J. Cart. Overanal. spent their childhoods basking in the Rubik’s cube-colored glow of the 1980s. When we weren’t playing Burgertime on our Intellivisions, we were plopped in front of the TV, enjoying the most toyetic entertainment DiC had to offer.

Let me remind you that we are talking about the 1980s: Thriller. Ronald Reagan. Trapper Keepers. ALF ran for four seasons.

So this Ex Situ is what we consider a warning. When all of the young white boys who were watching cartoons of the 1980s become old white men in charge of our nation’s government and economic infrastructure, humanity is surely doomed.

Without further ado,

The 10 Most Insane, Child-Warping Moments of 80s Cartoons
>Catena Ex Situ

Contributed by Jason T.

It is important to note that many of the cartoons you are referencing come from Japan. In Japan, there is a type of superhero sub-genre called the “sentai.” The best example of a sentai series is the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Other examples include the Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors), Go Lion (Voltron), Magic Knights Rayearth, and Sailor Moon. The basic formula for the sentai team is as follows:

1. Near-identical costumes
2. Primary differentiation is by color
3. Their power is most effective when used in unison

The sentai emerges from the Japanese culture. In most Western cultures, emphasis is put on the individual. Hence, great epics are written about Odysseus (not the whole crew of his ship), Luke Skywalker (not the Rebellion as a whole), and the Green Lantern (not the entire Green Lantern Corps). By the same token, most American superteams consist of very individualized characters, such as with the Avengers, the X-Men, the Justice League, etc. In Japanese culture, emphasis is placed on the collective. There is even a well-quoted saying that “the nail that sticks up is hammered down.” Thus, sentai teams appear more homogeneous.

There are some rare cases of American-produced sentai. These are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Planeteers. The Powerpuff Girls is, in my most humble of opinions, a ripoff designed by Cartoon Network to cash in on the popularity of Sailor Moon. The short-lived Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad and Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills were blatant ripoffs trying to cash in on the Power Rangers craze.

As for elemental powers, I’m not sure how this got started. When you have a set number of members and this number corresponds to a set number of a cultural, scientific, historical, or other kind of phenomenon, you can associate the powers of your sentai team with the aspects of of this phenomenon. This technique can be used to put emphasis on the overall theme of the show.

Let’s look at Ronin Warriors. It can be viewed as a show about two sentai teams. The original versions of the Ronins were elemental, just as in America: earth, fire, air, water, and spirit (lightning). They each represented the four Confucian virtues: courtesy, wisdom, justice, virtue, and faith/trust. The Warlords are each powered by the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. They are linked to samurai virtues: loyalty, piety, obedience, and serene endurance. This links the show to the overall motif of feudal Japan and the ways of the samurai.

Let’s look at Sailor Moon next. Here, we can see three sentai teams. The five Inner Senshi (#1) represent elements: earth/metal, water, lightning/wood, fire, and spiritual purity. (There is no air elemental character, I am told, because the air was considereduncontrollable by man. It was the domain that only gods could control.) Sailor Pluto was introduced later as a stand-alone character, controlling space and time. Uranus and Neptune (#2) were introduced as a duet, and they represent the duality of the sky and sea (see Magic Knights Rayearth). Saturn was introduced solo, and she represents the cycle of death and rebirth. The Sailor Starlights (#3) were introduced as a trio. They represent the Hindu concepts of the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. (Tuxedo Mask, by the way, represents the planet Earth.)

The Magic Knights represent the land, the sea, and the sky. Their powers reflect this. They are the chosen protectors of the realm of Cefiro, and so they embody the power of the land of Cefiro.