It's time for another PCP spotlight, and this week it's on Jason who runs the great pop culture cartoon blog Saturday World.com!

I've had a lot of fun conversing with Jason on twitter, and he's always reminding me of cartoons I hadn't thought about in years.  If you get a second, check out his site and if you dig cartoons as much as I do, I'm positive that there'll be something that'll spark a fond memory or ten…

I have no idea where this week has gone too!  Well, I figured I'd through up a quite post to update on the progress of the below OMFG! Kickstarter project which just this morning crossed over the funding mark.  There's still a good month and a half to go until the campaign is over so if you're interested in helping fun a possible Series 2 and would like to get your hands on some cool toys in the process, head on over and make a pledge.  I've been pretty inspired by this whole community toy project that I threw my hat in the ring with a couple of designs for the 2nd series.  First up is a little guy I call Boom Box…

The drawing is a little wonky, but the concept hopefully gets across.  He's a little bit hip hop, a little Soundwave/Megatron mash-up, and a whole lot of Boom!  I'm thinking he also has an evil twin named Ghetto Blaster...

Next up is more of a silly idea that I had to draw once it popped into my head.  It's Stripe the Gremlin wearing a Mogwai (read Gizmo) hoodie.  Probably a little too "brand" specific for the OMFG! minifigures, but I had a lot of fun drawing him.  Think I might take a crack at coloring him this weekend (And now I did, though only some basic colors)…

Anyway, if you're at all interested in the OMFG! project, head on over to the Kickstarter page or the October Toys forums and get in on the fun and speak up about your favorite designs!

If there's one aspect of this site that I tend to neglect, it's a lot of the more current news and interesting tidbits that are heavily influenced by the 80s era craziness I typically expound upon.  It's no secret that in the past five or six years there's been a huge resurgence in the popularity of the toys, movies, and music of the eighties, but for the most part I've always felt that there are plenty of other sites that address this stuff better than I'd be able to, particularly with keeping timely updates and such.  Lately though there have been a handful of things hitting my radar that are so cool, I've had to flip my perspective and look forward.  With that in mind I thought I'd take a second today to point towards a really awesome independent toy project I stumbled upon yesterday (thanks to Jason at Open Your Toys) that should be exciting to all those kids who grew up collecting and trading M.U.S.C.L.E.s and Monster in My Pocket mini figures…

Created by a community of toy enthusiasts and artists, and spearheaded by the fine folks over at October Toys, these OMFG! (Outlandish Mini Figure Guys) are preparing to descend upon nostalgic toy collectors everywhere.  The first series features five outstanding creatures including the king of bone-daddys, Multiskull, a swampy southern man monster known as the Crawdad Kid, the frontier's worst nightmare, the Phantom Outhouse, a master of his own castle, King Castor, and a cryptid that would give the purple people eater a run for his money, Stroll.

This community toy jam has been gestating on the October Toys forums for the past four months or so and has culminated with the launch of a Kickstarter fundraising project to make these little guys a reality.  If you're the type of guy or gal that's interested in collectable vinyl figures, nostalgic relaunches (like the Transformers Classics and the 25th anniversary G.I. Joes), or you're still teary-eyed because your parents gave away all your M.U.S.C.L.E.s to the little brat down the street when you were off at college, then you might want to head on over to the OMFG! Kickstarter campaign and make a pledge today!

Catching back up with the Post Card Project, today's feature is on Jason who has a great toy and pop culture site called simply enough Jason Vorhees' Blog…

At the time I sent out the cards I didn't realize that Jason's favorite character was Donatello, so he ended up getting a Mikey card, but regardless I'm happy that through this project I was able to find a new site to frequent.  Jason's got a really down to Earth yet passionate take on pop culture, and I've had a blast reading along with his observations as he shares his various toy and ephemera finds.  If you get a second, head on over and check out his site!

It's hard to see it, but he's got quite a nice TMNT and toy collection behind him in the photo.  In particular I see some Robo Force figures up top that warm my heart a bit...

A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece taking a look at the general history of that crazy canned, pasteurized, spray cheese known as Easy Cheese (or Snack Mate circa 1966-1984 or so.)  Though I don't remember when I first came into contact with this wonderfully odd product, I do know that there always seemed to be a can in our pantry.  Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't remember my mom ever really using it for snacks and meals, so I'm wondering why she always bought them?  Regardless, I have a lot of fond memories of artistically playing with Easy Cheese in the attempt at creating some sort of impressionist cheese masterpiece on top of a Ritz cracker canvas.  Years before Ritz Bits hit the shelves I was drawing happy faces on crackers, marveling at my work for a second, and then smashing down a second cracker to make a creamy cheese and cracker sandwich.  I also seem to remember also having contests with friends to see who could squirt the most cheese into our mouths without suffocating to death.

Looking back, even though Easy Cheese's frilly decorative snazzy origins didn't really stick around very long, it's interesting to note that Nabisco was still trying to push the canned product as an important addition to any home cook's pantry as late as 1981 with the release of the Quick'n Easy Ideas with Snack Mate cookbook…

Again, I learned about this cookbook from an old ad I found in Woman's Day, and I couldn't imagine writing an article on Easy Cheese without tracking down a copy of this tome to share on the site.  Luckily, I managed to find a copy being sold by an mom and pop cookbook website, and I quickly snatched it up hoping that there were a bounty of mind blowing canned cheese recipes between those 30 year-old covers.  After receiving it and cracking it open I was a little disappointed.  I should have seen it coming, but of the 62 "recipes" contained in this 18 page leaflet, almost every one can be condensed to the following phrase, "…and top with Snack Mate cheese."  Hey, grab a Triscuit and top with Snack Mate cheese.  Hollow out a cherry tomato and top with Snack Mate cheese.  Boil 4 ears of corn and top with Snack Mate cheese.  The list goes on and on of the various stuff you can top with Snack Mate cheese.  I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, maybe a bunch of cheese sauce recipes or some actually cooking, but again, I should have seen it coming.  Actually, one of the most disappointing aspects is that there was no mention of anything like the Twinkie Weiner Sandwich (which I'll get to below)…

That doesn't mean that there aren't some crazy stand-out ideas in this guide book.  In fact one of the weirder revelations was how often the Nabisco test kitchen urged the reader to mix the canned cheese with unlikely products like fresh fruit or desert items.  One reoccurring theme was mixing Snack Mate with canned pineapple, which is about as unappetizing a thought as I can muster, and I've eaten a Twinkie Weiner Sandwich (seriously, I'll get to it in a minute…)  There are also a couple of recipes that call for squirting Easy Cheese on raisin bread, which is just wrong!

Well, even if Easy Cheese never really caught on as the home chef's answer to amazing dinner party preparation, it has achieved a sort of cult status as a weird, truly American product.  I'm sure there are a ton of people who have dreamed about pulling out the little black stopper on the bottom of the can, but have held back because they feared that it would explode like a cheesy hand grenade.  I'd also bet that somewhere out there someone has coined a hilarious term for the hardened nub of excess cheese that forms on the nozzle between uses.  More importantly, Easy Cheese has popped up on the silver screen in a few classic films including the Blues Brothers…

Actually, the appearance in the Blues Brothers has kind of stirred up some weird controversy in the pasteurized cheese fan community (and if you through Trekies were nuts.)  Basically, there's a scene with Jake and Elwood coming home to their apartment and there's an old guy who stops them and says, "Where's my Cheez Whiz, boy?", after which Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) reaches into his pocket, pulls out a can of Snack Mate and tosses it to the geezer.  This one silly miscommunication has led to a belief that the king of pasteurized cheese products, Cheez Whiz, once came in a pressurized spray can.  I can't disprove the rumor 100%, but I can say for a fact that the can in the movie is indeed a can of Nabisco Snack Mate and not Cheez Whiz.

Here's the thing, in the zeitgeist of the year 1980 (when the film was released), the Cheez Whiz brand name was, and probably still is, the most recognized term for a pasteurized cheese product known to mankind.  It's also 3,000% more funny than the phrase Snack Mate, and thus I'd guess that it won out in the wording of that joke (whether it was thought-out and scripted or if it was a spur of the moment ad-lib on set.)  Vice versa, the appearance and packaging of Snack Mate is 3,000% more iconic and side-splittingly hilarious than the Cheez Whiz bottle, not to mention more handy for keeping in one's pocket and much easier to throw without hurting anyone.  So just by breaking down the logic, I'd have to say that it was an unfortunate amalgamation that gave birth to a rumor that honestly no one really cares about.  Except me.  And this guy.

Another notable appearance of Easy Cheese on the silver screen was in an animated form in a couple of scenes in the Goofy Movie…

One of the side characters, Bobby Zimmeruski (voiced by Pauley Shore), was a bona fide cheese-a-holic who can be seen making his own Easy Cheese art and eating the product by the can-full.  A special thanks goes out to Devin who helped me find this scene…

Personally, the most classic and famous appearance of Easy Cheese on the big screen was during one of my favorite all time flicks, Weird Al Yankovic's UHF!  It's in this wondrous film that I was introduced to the majesty that is the Twinkie Weiner Sandwich.  After losing yet another menial job, George Newman (Weird Al) tries to cheer up his best friend Bob by making him one of these legendary sandwiches.

Step one, cut a slit down the center of an upside-down Twinkie, taking care not to cut all the way though the cake.  Step two, place a standard hot dog wiener, fresh from the package, inside the slit…

Step three, apply a liberal amount of Easy Cheese on top of the hot dog.  Step four, dunk the sandwich in a mug of milk, and enjoy!

Actually, there should be a step five, which would consist of making a second sandwich and giving it to a friend…

Weird Al mentioned on the commentary track that he probably ended up eating 7-8 of these sandwiches to get the iconic sequence on film.  He even enjoys one of these amazing wonders of culinary delight from time to time, though he's a vegetarian these days and substitutes the hot dog for a tofu dog.

No article on Easy Cheese would be complete without making my own Twinkie Weiner Sandwich, which is what I did this past weekend with the wife.  I decided to change mine up a bit as I'm not a big fan of eating cold, unprepared hot dogs, so we broiled ours first.  We also went with a more New York deli style hot dog as we generally prefer them to the standard Oscar Meyer wieners.  The resulting TWS was no where near as pretty as Al's was in the film, but they were still a sight to behold…

So how did it taste you might be asking?  Well, it was both unlike anything I've ever eaten, and not nearly as bad as the description makes them out to be.  Actually, it reminded me a lot of eating sweet northern cornbread with barbeque.  The Twinkie was an adequate replacement for a bun, though there was an unfortunate side effect of broiling the hot dogs that we weren't prepared for which resulted in the Twinkie basically melting and falling apart halfway through the sandwich.  On the upside though, the heat from the dog made the filling inside the Twinkie taste like toasted marshmallow.  The final verdict?  Eating a Twinkie Weiner Sandwich is a lot like what I expect eating one of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's fingers might taste like.  Meaty, sweet, and full of unholy rage!  But more important, the Easy Cheese tied the whole thing together…

**UPDATE** The winner of the DVD has been picked, Jody Y., and has been notified via the Facebook messaging system.  Thanks to everyone who entered and keep an eye out for some more cartoon DVD give-aways on Branded soon!

I've been lamenting a lot about the downturn the cartoon-on-DVD industry seems to have taken in the past couple of years, but lately all that gloom and doom has been forgotten as a metric ton of new-to-DVD and catalog titles have been announced.  Leading the pack is Shout! Factory, who have managed to snag some of the more popular franchises in the last few years including G.I. Joe and the Transformers.  Having just announced the impending release of the complete version 1 of M.A.S.K. and the Japanese Transformers – Headmasters series, as well as the long-awaited re-release of Jem, Shout! is making fans of 80s era cartoons very happy.

As happy as I am to see these titles released, I've also been keeping a close eye on the folks over at Millcreek Entertainment who have also been very busy with a slew of re-releases of out-of-print Filmation classics as well as a bunch of other slightly more obscure cartoon releases.  In addition to picking up a bevy of the oop BCI Eclipse titles like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Defenders of the Earth, and Dungeons and Dragons, Millcreek has also partnered with Cookie Jar to start releasing some great new-to-DVD titles (including the stop-motion Paddington Bear shorts and the Get-Along Gang) as well as some other re-releases such as C.O.P.S. and The Littles.

I've been on the fence about how I feel about Millcreek's sets.  On the one hand they're one of the last few DVD production houses bothering to license and release older cartoons, but on the other they're concentration on slimmed-down budget releases leaves a lot to be desired at times.  Today I'm going to take a look at one of their newer re-releases, the Complete Bravestarr 7 disc set…

First thing's first, the term "complete" is pretty relative.  For fans of the Filmation Bravestarr cartoon, complete doesn't just refer to the 65 syndicated episodes of the series, but also the theatrical film, Bravestarr: The Legend.  Back when the series was first released by BCI Eclipse, the film was included as an extra on the Best Of Bravestarr release.  While at the time it seemed like BCI was doing a little double dipping on the Best Of set (knowing that real fans of the show would re-purchase those episodes when the complete series was released later that year), the inclusion of the movie made it fully worth the purchase price.  As for the Millcreek re-releases, I'm not sure if we're going to see the movie included or not.  In addition to the Complete Series set, they're also releasing two slimmer volumes, each including 20 episodes of the series.  I'm wondering if they're planning on following this up with a third volume with the remaining 25 episodes and the movie, but time will only tell...

Though I'm a bit bummed that the movie wasn't included in this set, I do have to admit that at around $30 you're certainly getting your money's worth.  Millcreek has kept to their budget, stacked-sleeved DVD keepcase design, but with this set they've brought up the quality a bit both in terms of aesthetics and value.  The cover artwork is a variation of the same great art used on the BCI version of the sets, and for the first time that I've noticed they've included a handy episode guide that fits right in with the stack of DVDs.  With a lot of their past complete series sets Millcreek didn't include guides which made flipping through a stack of 5 to 20 DVDs a nightmare for trying to find specific episodes (in particular, their 21 Jumpstreet set really suffered from this.)  Like the cover art, the guide contains episode synopses and trivia culled from the BCI sets (and written by James Eatock of the wonderful Cereal Geek magazine.)

This set also includes a handful of the documentary interviews Andy Mangels produced for the original BCI sets that include conversations with Lou Scheimer, Pat Fraley, Tom Sito, and Tom Tataranowicz, as well as a commentary track on the episode "Eye of the Beholder".

As far as the visual/audio quality of the set goes, it's pretty good.  It's not as crisp and clean as the BCI release (especially the audio), but when you consider the price of the set it's more than adequate and should please casual fans of the series.

Now lets get down to the contest!  If you missed out on the BCI release of Bravestarr, and would like to win this very full review copy of MillCreek's Complete 65 episode series set, then head on over to the Branded in the 80s Facebook page (like it if you haven't) and leave a comment/response on the discussion board under the Bravestarr DVD Contest thread with the name of your favorite Bravestarr character.  I'll be picking a winner at random on Thursday, June 9th at 2:00pm est.  Remember, these are region 1 DVDs, so if you’re an international reader take note.  Good luck!