In the Beginning....

There was Spider Macarena:

In Toy Fare Magazine's Winter 1996 issue, a poseable Mego Spiderman doll went through the steps of the Macarena...at the time, a popular dance craze...among white people at weddings and office parties. Spidey's only folly was when it came time to slap his hands on the opposite shoulders he surely wasn't poseable enough.

So, where is this all going? Who knows. But it did take it's next leap into Twisted Toy Fare Theatre, a popular feature in Toy Fare magazine, starring many-a-mego doll, in many-an-adult situation. It was okay! The people who wrote and bought this magazine were ripping off little kids anyhow upping the prices on SPAWN figures. They were all going to hell, they might as well entertain and be entertained on the razor bladed slide down to the depths of beelzebub's humble abode. It was wrong, raunchy and dirty. I mean, Ironman was a drunk (iron liver?), the Smurfs were smurfing things up, and it seemed that Hulk couldn't contain his bowels. To top it all off, DOOM's plans were just not working out...but when were they ever? (This is of course an invite for all you comic geeks out there to point out if this is wrong)

So, where the hell does Robot Chicken come into play?

A Match Made in Toy Heaven....

Robot Chicken is created by Seth Green (Chip in 1992's The Double O Kid) and Matthew Senreich (Toy Fare Editor...cush job). I remember spotting Seth Green trolling the exibitor hall at San Diego Comicon in 1999. Kinda cool to see that he is a fan boy just like us. From that, it is no surprise that he would use his "talents", resources (Kevin Nealon would add "blow jobs"), and his love for comics and toys to make us piss our action figure lovin pants watching Robot Chicken.

Green and Senreich met through their mutual love of toys and action figures. They hit it off and began discussing a way to bring them to life through animation. After collaborating on a project for Sony's Web site, entitled "Sweet J Presents", the duo pitched a fast-moving pop-culture sketch show to Adult Swim. "Robot Chicken” was given the green light in Spring 2004. (Shameless cut and paste)

So what in the hell is Robot Chicken? According to Seth in an interview with Wizard Universe:

Um, “Robot Chicken” was a dish from the Chinese restaurant where we ordered take-out, while we were writing the show.

But WTF is Robot Chicken?

Who the hell knows?! It didn't make any sense, we were like, Robot Chicken? What the f---?! But you have to understand, “Robot Chicken” was one of 60 titles that we came up with. I mean, we came up with dozens and dozens of titles, submitted about 30 of them through clearances, and “Robot Chicken” was the one that cleared. Isn't that crazy? I mean, the show was called everything from “Attatoy” to “The No-No Place.” I mean, we titled this everything from “Vegetable Fun Fest” to “S&M Presents.'” We had a rough go of it man, we had a rough go of it. And now we give you “Robot Chicken.” [Laughs]

That's Fucked Up...........

Seth Green and a number of celebrities will provide voices, including Scarlett Johannson, Burt Reynolds, Ryan Seacrest, Mark Hamill and Macauley Culkin. Mark Hamill of course is best known for his role of Luke Skywalker (which he will voice in Robot Chicken), but many are not familiar with his voice overs that he does for many of cartoon's most popular characters including Batman: The Animated Series where he did the voice of The Joker. He also directed a movie at the 2003 San Diego Comicon, called Comic Book: The Movie. It involved many voice actors in the industry who we would not normally see.

From what I can tell, and according to all the cut and paste information on Robot Chicken, the show is a pop culture rompus that will take all us ESCAPISTS back to a time when we used to make our Barbie and Ken dolls f@#k, blow up our G.I Joes, cut our Strawberry Shortcake dolls hair into mohawks, and it didn't matter who belonged in which universe, Marvel or DC, the toys played together in all sorts of crazy adventures. As adults...or merely technically defined adults, we can appreciate the humor that goes into the sketches, as we have lived through so much of the popular culture that it represents, and played with those exact same toys. We can definately appreciate the work put into Robot Chicken.

Thank You!

--Wendy Lady