Friday, January 27, 2012

Crushin' on Cartoons

In my previous two posts, I mentioned that Yakko Warner of "Animaniacs" was my second cartoon crush. So, you must be wondering who was my first. Well, he happens to be a real stinker. Yes, my first crush is none other than Pepé Le Pew!

(Image from a Google search.) This French skunk (who just turned 67 this past January 6th) won my heart years before "Animaniacs" came to the TV screens, when I would frequently watch "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons on my CBS affiliate and later, on Nickelodeon and ABC. Being French, Pepé was always giving romantic lines to the object of his desire which was usually a black cat with a white stripe painted on the back, but Pepé didn't know that. (Luckily, those cats were female, in most of the cartoons, anyway.) And Pepé was always determined to keep his lover, usually chasing after her with that bouncing prance of his. And although he may be a skunk, he does look quite handsome (at least, to me). And his voice, as given to him by the late Mel Blanc, was very soothing to the ears, French accent and all, especially when he sings. I still remember that one scene in the cartoon "Scent-imental Romeo" when he sings "Baby Face" to his "beloved" while both were walking across that brick fence. The cat may not have wanted to even get close to him, but I sure swooned over his serenade. And now that all 15 of Pepé's cartoons are on DVD (along with a couple bonus 'toons), I can see my favorite skunk work his charms on his femme fatales whenever I want. (You online shoppers can get your copy through Amazon by going here.)

Pepé Le Pew was my first crush, but like I said before, Yakko Warner is my second. He, too, is handsome himself. And his voice, as provided by Rob Paulsen, is attractive as well, whether he talks or sings. Yes, he's real clever, being able to talk his way through any situation. He always seems to be in control, especially when leading his younger siblings, Wakko and Dot. Yakko's got a great wit, that's for sure. And as I mentioned in my earlier post on him (hyperlinked in the first paragraph of this post), he's a very talented musician, especially on the piano. Sure, he may not be the most well behaved around attractive women (such as Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink), but it doesn't make me love him any less. (Screenshot from a Google image search.)

Yakko is indeed my second cartoon crush, but he isn't the last. "You mean there's more?" I hear you asking. Well, as of right now, there's only one more and he's more of a video game character than a cartoon character:

It all started as I was getting back into the "Sonic the Hedgehog" games from watching the "Sonic X" anime. (Sonic just turned 20 last year and I neglected to mention the milestone. Sorry, Sonic. Read about his 17th and Garfield's 30th here.) One game I added to my collection was "Sonic Adventure 2 Battle" (for the Nintendo Gamecube which I had at the time) and it was that particular game that introduced me to one Shadow the Hedgehog. Yes, even I have a thing for bad boys, or in this case, bad hedgehogs. And boy, was he bad! He thinks most humans are pathetic and he doesn't hang out with Sonic and the others very often. But he has his reasons: He was created as the ultimate life form by Professor Gerald Robotnik (Eggman's grandfather) aboard the space colony ARK. His closest friend was the professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik. Then, one day, the ARK was being invaded and Maria sacrificed her life so that Shadow could survive on the Earth below. That's enough of a reason to keep to himself. I'm smart enough to keep my distance from him (his ability to use Chaos Control and his powerful Chaos-based attacks are beyond compare), but I'll always admire the dark hedgehog. (Image from a Google search.)

Shadow is my third and most recent crush. Doesn't mean he'll be the last. As time marches on, there will be other male cartoon characters that will catch my fangirlish attention someday. And no, Goofy and Strong Bad don't count: Goofy is more like a father figure to me and Strong Bad, while being super cool and all (at least, he thinks so), doesn't seem like boyfriend material for me no matter how many times my mom (who I live with) teases me about it! And yet, out of the three crushes I just mentioned that I have thus far, I don't seem to see myself hooking up with any of them anytime soon:
Pepé will continue chasing female skunks (even if they're really cats with white stripes painted on them) and Shadow is just not willing to have any girl cling to him (or anybody else for that matter), which leaves Yakko free, but I'm not gonna take my chances since he's got his eyes on a certain fan character (namely, Kikko Aulstar, as created by Keshia Anders a.k.a. Sony-Mae on devaintART). So, for now, I can at least settle for watching these three cartoon crushes do what they do best, even if I'm not looking for an actual boyfriend. (Sorry, fellas, this gal plans to stay single for a long, long time.)

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