An odd little review...

Hoo-ha, e'erbody! Certain things tickle my funny bone more than most; pratfalls, my ridiculous friends doing ridiculous things (I'm looking at you, Matt...), the comedic stylings of vintage Looney Tunes cartoons. But a web cartoon that capture my attention and keep it's funniness is rare to find. Lucky for me, I found one. I am an avid viewer of Homestarrunner.com (if you've never heard of it, allow me to introduce you to the interwebs. Interwebs, this is somebody who lives under a rock...) and have been since 2001. They build their comedy mostly on nostalgic pop culture references (which I dig...) and ridiculous antics from strange cartoon characters. However, one toon in particular found that perfect balance of homage, nostalgia, ridiculousness and humor. Enter: Shopping For Danger!...

A quick aside: Cheat Commandos are a 'toon-within-the-toon' in the Homestarrunner universe, much like Itchy and Scratchy in The Simpsons or Terrance & Philip in South Park. The 'show' itself parodies most 'boy' shows during the 80's into the 90's; i.e. a good of fighter/military/tough guys who fight a group with an over-the-top villain (read: G.I. Joe vs Cobra...). However, these guys take the parody to directly referencing what each show would do: Instead of inferring to buy action figures and the like, the slogan of the Cheat Commandos is literally 'Buy All Our Playsets and Toys' sung in a very patriotic manner. The concept alone is very cute, but it is this particular episode that has won my heart...

Herein lies the plot synopsis in case you do not care to watch the toon: We begin at the Cheat Commandos base playset, when a Blue Las-alert goes off, signifying that Blue Laser is up to no good! In reality, they are shopping at a grocery store and will save a lot of money. The over enthusiastic leader type (Gunhaver...) stirs the other Commandos into a frenzy, but leaves behind the dorky type (Reynold...). They try to prevent Blue Laser from checking out, but Reynold has accidentally set off a rocket launcher, destroying part of the base. The Commandos return, mistaking Reynold's mistake for a Blue Laser attack. It ends with Gunhaver cry vengeance in the next episode (literally...), while Blue Laser cleans grout as it is (apparently...) a key to defeating the Cheat Commandos...

It's the little things that make this episode near and dear to me. The plot itself is a parody of any ridiculous plot that you might find Cobra do in G.I. Joe, but beyond that, I found the adherence and the references to the little things from my childhood to be paramount. Example: when there'd be a jokey or uncomfortable scene, a 'dopey' piece of music would play. It feels very He-Man to me, but so many 80's cartoons used this trick, I can't say it's just from one show or another. Changing scenes by using the title logo is straight out of West-ian Batman show which was then used in countless kids shows since then. It's hard to pin point each and every reference and why they are great (to me...) since the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts in this case. The Brothers Chaps (creators of the H*R phenom...) out did themselves and showed there love for the genre in this short, but very sweet cartoon...

You can find the link to the toon itself here. If you give it a chance, and happen to love 80's cartoons like did (and still do...), I think you'll really dig what these guys did. While your at it, peruse the site and see what else Homestarrunner.com has to offer. There hasn't been as many updates as there has been in the past, but I still swear by the site...