Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars also called the Toad Menace in other regions was a cartoon that was supposed to ride the success of TMNT but was never able to caught on for n reasons. But whether it was because of the NES video game or the discounted toys I’m sure many of us have memories of Bucky O’Hare so how was the short lived animated show that we got from the cult comic?
After watching it I was surprised by how fun it was and different from anything like most Ninja Turtle clone shows we used to get at that time. It’s definitely inspired by sci-fi shows and movies like Star Wars instead of really being just another anthropomorphic animal show. IF I had to call it anything I’d say it’s as close to a Star Fox animated show as we’ll ever get as they both share a similar universe and the main characters closely resemble the Star Fox cast.
Like any space story with a ship the story lives or dies by the personality of the crew and luckily we have tropey characters that are still fun. From Bucky O’Hare the fearless captain to Jenny who actually brings magic to the table which is interesting when mixed correctly with sci-fi. Deadeye Duck is the awesome yet cliche mercenary and Bruiser the muscle. We also have the robot Blinky and finally the most unique character since he’s a human from “our” universe that transpors over to their “Aniverse”
The enemies are evil toads but while a bit lame at least mimic all our favorite space bad guy armies and their strategies and also pretty much feel like villains from Star Fox but I doubt Nintendo ever copied the ideas from this comic, they are just both inspired by such shows as Star Trek and the like. We have Komplex, Toad Air Marshall, Toad Borg and the Storm Toads that are conquering the galaxy.
Unlike most shows at the time this one actually has a nice beginning and an ending, and while it leaves things open for plenty of more stories, it’s at least nice to know that after only one season it will get more of a conclusion than many shows can only ever hope for. A shame that this show didn’t catch on as it would’ve been interesting to see more of it and more of Bucky in general.
Sadly there isn’t much media out there for Bucky but at least everything that the franchise has is usually of quality whether it’s the video games, the comic, the old and new figures or even this cartoon. I’m surprised the furry fandom isn’t more into he franchise as it’s a dream come true, but maybe one day we’ll see a new content for this franchise that we can all enjoy.
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