The Off-Beats - The Suave-O-Matic 5000 - Toonstalgia

 The Off-Beats - The Suave-O-Matic 5000

Toonstalgia

Quickly

Steve becomes Stefan. I mean, August uses a machine to make him cool.

Thoughts and Details

I showed my nephew an episode of KaBlam! It wasn't the episode with the Suave-O-matic. He picked because he always gives something more of a chance if he picks the episode. I knew it would go one of two ways because this isn't the first cartoon show from my childhood I convinced him to watch. He might enjoy it or he might start asking when it would be over and complaining about how boring it was. He liked it. He really liked Sniz & Fondue and it expanded his ideas of what cartoons are. It couldn't have gone better. As someone obsessed with cartoons for her entire life, it's nice when my nephews like it.

About the KaBlam! Episode - I want to try Harold's Glow in the Dark butter. Though I expect it would be carcinogenic.

About The Off-Beats style - The colorful, abstract backgrounds add visual interest to the cartoons without distracting from the characters. The backgrounds make the spare animation more dynamic. Thin black lines around characters and groups of characters separate them from the background. The thin arms of the children are hard to draw.

Way Too Much Detail

August is happily playing paddleball when the Populars come and mock him. He's decides to become cool rather than learning to love what makes him unique and disregard the hateful behavior of Tina and her sycophants. Understandable given his age. 

August puts on the Suave-O-Matic 5000, a backpack shaped gadget with transformative effects, that turns August into a "cool" version of himself. You can bet your sweet bippy the Populars like the new artificial August. He abandons his real friends in favor of the Populars. 

He sticks his head in a lion's mouth and parachutes and has other exciting adventures. But He still likes paddleball and this causes the Suave-O-Matic to explode. Somehow the Populars didn't notice the giant machine on August's back. The Populars abandon the now dorky August. August returns to his real friends who are happy to have him back and empathize with his desire for acceptance and don't give him a hard time.