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What A Cartoon! - Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars "Home, Swampy Home" (Patreon)

Published:
2020-01-20 05:00:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Thanks to the generous support of our patron Jibbly, this week we're taking a look at a fairly obscure entry that still persists nearly 30 years later in the form of action figures: Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! Developed by G.I. Joe legend Larry Hama, Bucky entered the world in the mid-80s as the perfect pitch for a toyetic kids' cartoon of the era—but had the misfortune to debut in the early '90s, when those types of shows were on the way out. From top to bottom, Bucky O'Hare is an interesting curiosity engineered to sell merchandise, so don't be surprised if you find yourself scrambling to eBay after listening to purchase your own plastic, lime-green rabbit. Now sit back and get ready to croak some toads with this week's podcast!

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Comments

DrKarate

Before this I never saw a single episode of Bucky O'Hare, but I did have his figure because he was ninja turtle size.

Ryan Kertai

Today I realized I went through most of my life not knowing the difference between Bucky O'Hare and Jazz Jackrabbit. I would hear mention of one every once in a while and think, "Right, that green space rabbit 90's cartoon/video game that seemed to be trying to capitalize off the success of TMNT and/or Sonic the Hedgehog. I vaguely remember that one, singular, short-lived franchise." Then it hit me when you guys started talking about the Bucky game. "Wait, NES? The green rabbit game I remember was ... they were different things!?"

crystalhearts

Hearing Henry briefly mention Dino Riders got me like 👀

Joe Hodgson

I have way too much to say about this show, but I'll try to be brief. I loved this show as a kid, and I still have affection for it as I have all of those new figures by Boss Fight Studio (they're great). I think what appealed to me as a kid was that it was very earnest and quite serious most of the time. Growing up on jokey stuff, I felt this show asked more from me and I liked that. Batman and X-Men would make that the norm for a bit the following year, but there wasn't much like Bucky in 91. It even "kills" the character Bruce in the first episode, a tactic X-Men would borrow with Morph which made the show feel like it had actual stakes. I loved the continuity from episode to episode, and I of course loved the toys and games. Watching it as an adult, I see the flaws and the commercial aspect of the show, but there's enough there for me to like, especially in these first four episodes and the finale. There's some really bad filler though like the episode with a cyborg ninja duck which you just know was created to be an action figure (one of the many that was cancelled). I never found confirmation for why the show exists. My guess is that Hasbro was likely looking for something to market after passing on TMNT (which Playmates got, not Galoob) and regretting it and had this put in front of them. I too hate the bit where the only other female has to dislike her, but I assume that wasn't Christy's choice. It could just be a bad pun with Jenny being "catty," though I prefer to think she's pissed that Bucky didn't recommend her to be a captain and picked the fox who would probably sleep with him. It would be neat to see a more faithful adaptation of Hama's Bucky, but in truth the first three episodes are pretty close to what was in the brief run of comics. They just omitted a character that's basically an omnipotent mouse that Bucky spends a bunch of time with. I wonder if he was supposed to be Bucky's mentor in this episode, only for them to find out that wouldn't make sense or something so they quickly wrote around the mistake. The comic does have a lot of humor geared around the mammals being run by a bunch of ineffective bureaucrats. Willy even has to fill out a bunch of paperwork before he can do work for Bucky and his crew so there's also some poking of unions in the process. It all speaks to Hama's life experiences in the comics industry as I could see someone who got dicked around by a bunch of big companies having a negative view on the people in charge and even an opinion that unions are ineffective (I'd disagree with him there though). Neal Adams has tried to keep Bucky alive for years. There's a CG short on the internet from the early 2000s that he shopped around to try and get a new show started up, but it didn't work. That's around the same time they restarted reprinting the original trade but with a few issues from the UK series added. The UK series was basically a continuation of the cartoon and it brought many of those characters (like Mimi and Bruiser) into the fold. Michael Golden was even selling a special edition at conventions around 2005 or so. Continuity still prints that trade, for anyone who is interested. Boss Fight Studios was selling it, last I checked, but may have sold out. The official DVD release was a region 2 only release and no region 1 was ever printed. My guess is it might have something to do with all of the people involved who need to be paid and someone deciding it just wasn't worth it. There was a bootleg floating around from a company called Exposure Entertainment that is basically just a rip of the UK DVD, but with terrible cover art. And lastly, a factoid that really is only of interest to me. Christy Marx was of course the writer here and she does a good job. She created Jem which included the villainous group of The Misfits. Probably the more famous Misfits is the punk rock band fronted Glenn Danzig, who after leaving The Misfits in 1983 created the band Samhain which would then simply be retitled Danzig after signing to a major label. When Danzig went to create a logo for his new band, he turned to an issue of Marvel Comics called Crystar The Crystal Warrior and lifted a demon skull from the cover of issue #8 which is the logo of Danzig to this very day. That cover was illustrated by one Michael Golden. As someone who both loves the music of Danzig and this silly show about a space rabbit, this just amuses me. I feel like I may be the only person on this planet that would fit into that very specific Venn Diagram.

K-S-O

Did you guys not like the Sin & Punishment games? Those are 3D games made by Treasure and I believe that they are among the best games they ever made.

About to Happy

Happy MLK Jr. Day to everyone else listening to this slave-tastic episode! [I can't not point out the thing w.r.t. a whole segment pointing out the thing..] It is pretty fascinating how the level of commitment to marketing this show played out. Two whole games related to a five issue comic/thirteen episode series, and enough of a push to be memorable without becoming popular.

Christmas Ape

This is a show that I know almost solely through a single VHS tape my family owned, but it all came rushing back to me while listening to this episode. I also want to mention that aside from being the best Robotnik, Long John Baldry is a person who lived a crazy life: among other things, he was a blues musician in the UK in the sixties, was openly gay in a time when homosexuality was still technically illegal there, was friends with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, essentially saved Elton John's life, and then decades later became a voice actor in Canada. I once stumbled upon a TV biography show about him, and when they got to the part about his voice acting career, it was said that he got into the business because, compared to being a musician, it was better pay for easier work.

Zach Adams

My favorite Larry Hama story will always be him and Priest shutting down a bank just by being two nonwhite men making it clear that they were packing, thus proving that gun licenses are really only for white men.

Zach Adams

I am also shocked that there was a fairly long discussion of the comic and Michael Golden with no mention of Micronauts, which was the platonic ideal of a toy comic.

Jacob Reed

I honestly just sit and hope that The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is the subject of a What A Cartoon in the near future, because I love that show to death. The backgrounds are cheap, animation can be sloppy, and the soundtrack is horribly annoying... unless Robotnik is involved. Long John Baldry always saves that show for me, and I think everyone working on the show new he was the best part. The animation on his wild takes are always better than anything else in the episode and his theme is by and large the best part of the soundtrack. Robotnik is the sole reason I rented those AoStH VHS tapes and watched the hell out of them.

Chance Gerk

I live in northern Alberta Canada and i don’t even think i have seen an episode of this, but we sure did have the toys. We were lucky enough to have the Toad double bubble (which fired grappling hooks and croaked as it rocked) and the toad croaker ( it was basically a whoopie cushion inside). 9 year old me and my 7 year old brother had so much fun terrorizing our ninja turtles who were just the right size to play along with.

Angel Young

I am not sure when/if you two will do Jem but since you mentioned the movie here I thought I should share something from before it was released. I was on Tumblr (something I grow to regret but that is a story for another day) and there were advertisements about the movie being made I believe before it started filming. Those advertisements contained an outreach to fans of the animated series asking them to submit a video about what they love about the cartoon Jem and the Holograms. Initially, the winner will be offered a small role but this was changed to the videos being put in the movie. I was very young when reruns of the show came out and bairly remember it (this was also before streaming service are what they are now), I didn't submit anything. However, when the movie came out, there was an extra level of disappointment. Those fan submissions wound up being used out of context to talk about how great the movie was which the audience was not referring to. There was a huge backlash over it and people felt manipulated over it. I am glad that I didn't submit anything but at the same time, if I did, I would have worn it as a badge of honor that I was in a box office bomb.

Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-07 23:00 My only frame of reference for the JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS movie is that Jem was played by actress/musician Aubrey Peeples, who is in a hilarious interview on the Eric Andre Show, which led to me looking up her IMDB and seeing she was in that garbage fire. (And I also just now realize it was directed by Jon M. Chu) -- Given how into comics & superheroes I've been for... my entire life, I'm surprised that (as far as I remember) I've never heard of it until the schedule for January was posted. It kind of reminds me of Bonkers in terms of how FASCINATING the history & behind the scenes stuff is compared to the actual show - even if in this case, the show is actually pretty enjoyable. I'd definitely be interested in watching another attempt at this series that's a little more faithful and had more money, but that does sound pretty unlikely
2020-01-26 00:48 My only frame of reference for the JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS movie is that Jem was played by actress/musician Aubrey Peeples, who is in a hilarious interview on the Eric Andre Show, which led to me looking up her IMDB and seeing she was in that garbage fire. (And I also just now realize it was directed by Jon M. Chu) -- Given how into comics & superheroes I've been for... my entire life, I'm surprised that (as far as I remember) I've never heard of it until the schedule for January was posted. It kind of reminds me of Bonkers in terms of how FASCINATING the history & behind the scenes stuff is compared to the actual show - even if in this case, the show is actually pretty enjoyable. I'd definitely be interested in watching another attempt at this series that's a little more faithful and had more money, but that does sound pretty unlikely

My only frame of reference for the JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS movie is that Jem was played by actress/musician Aubrey Peeples, who is in a hilarious interview on the Eric Andre Show, which led to me looking up her IMDB and seeing she was in that garbage fire. (And I also just now realize it was directed by Jon M. Chu) -- Given how into comics & superheroes I've been for... my entire life, I'm surprised that (as far as I remember) I've never heard of it until the schedule for January was posted. It kind of reminds me of Bonkers in terms of how FASCINATING the history & behind the scenes stuff is compared to the actual show - even if in this case, the show is actually pretty enjoyable. I'd definitely be interested in watching another attempt at this series that's a little more faithful and had more money, but that does sound pretty unlikely