Monstars

The Nerdlucks also referred to as the Monstars are the secondary antagonists of the 1996 Warner Bros. hybrid film Space Jam. They are a group of aliens who work for galactic carnival worker, Mr. Swackhammer.

Members

 * Pound, who stole Charles Barkley's talent is the orange overweight leader of the Monstars. He is bossy, demanding, mean spirited, and takes pleasure in bullying Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters. He speaks in a very deep voice.
 * Bang, who stole Patrick Ewing's talent is the green second in command of the Monstars. He is very tough and aggressive. He has a large chin, small dragon-like ears, spikes on his back and a red orange flat top. He enjoys insulting Michael Jordan and picking on the Looney Tunes. He has the ability to breathe fire. He speaks in a deep growling voice.
 * Bupkus, who stole Larry Johnson's talent is the buff purple monstar. He has dark purple hair, and he is very emotional and cocky. He enjoys mocking Michael Jordan and hurting the Looney Tunes. He speaks in a deep suave voice.
 * Blanko, who stole Shawn Bradley's talent is the tall blue monstar. He has dark blue hair, pointy ears, and a buck tooth. He is dimwitted and more laid-back than his teammates. He is friendly to Michael Jordan and Tweety. He speaks in a thick californian accent.
 * Nawt, who stole Muggsy Bogues's talent is the short red monstar. He is smart and hyperactive. He speaks in a high voice.

Biography
The Nerdlucks first appear when Mr. Swackhammer is trying to attract more customers to his theme park on Moron Mountain because he is losing money. During his rant, he suggests something funny, wacky, and nutty when he suddenly sits on his remote control in which a library of Looney Tunes shorts start playing on his TV screens, Bupkus and Nawt point them out and he agrees with them so he sends them to Looney Tune Land where the Looney Tunes reside.

They encounter Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd accidentally landing on Elmer in the process. They interrogate Bugs and ask him the whereabouts of Bugs Bunny because they have no idea what he looks like. He describes himself to them in one of his classic routines and they agree with the descriptions and he tells them that he never heard of him which disappoints them. Bugs remarks to himself "you know maybe there really isn't any intelligent life out there in the universe!". At this point they figure out he really is the Bugs Bunny who they're looking for and they shoot him with their laser guns and tell him to come with them.

That night, Bugs holds a town meeting with the other Looney Tunes and tells them that they will be enslaved by the Nerdlucks. They laugh when they hear the Nerdlucks talk because they look and sound small and weak so they send Yosemite Sam after them. They shoot him with their laser guns frying him and knocking him unconscious. Now terrified they raise their hands in surrender. Bugs decides to negotiate with them telling them "The rules of kidnapping a cartoon character".

He then holds a meeting with Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, and Sylvester after much discussion. They decide to have a basketball game to decide their fates because they think they have the advantage because the Nerdlucks are too small. Little do they know the Nerdlucks have the ability to melt themselves and shoot into a person's brain to steal their abilities. Using this, they steal the talent from Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and Shawn Bradley and place the stolen talents into a basketball. Later as they prepare to train. Daffy sarcastically tells them since they are performing poorly "they need to practice growing taller".

After their transformation, they stood tall smiling evilly at the Looney Tunes and their high voices became deep and resounding Blanko scared Porky Pig by saying "Boo." They felt cocky of their new size, as they chuckled evilly Bang picked up the ball and mocked that its time to play a little basketball and slams the ball to the ground that destroyed the court.

When the Monstars showed up at the gym, they start picking on Michael, calling him names and Pound made him into a shape of a basketball and passes him to Nawt and dribbles then he passed him to Bang and slam dunked.

Pound remarks mockingly to the Looney Tunes about Michael and the Monstars laugh at Michael. Then Bang insults Michael by calling him baldy then Tweety comes to Michael's defense but gets flicked to the wall by Bang hurting him. When Michael picks Tweety up he asked if he's okay and Blanko also asked in concern then Bang and Bupkus glare angrily at him not wanting him to be friendly. After Tweety got hurt by the Monstars, Michael decides to play basketball with the Looney Tunes.

Later at the basketball game, the Monstars started to cheat and play rough to get their hands on the ball, so they can win. During half time, the Monstars' boss, Mr. Swackhammer, showed up for pep talk then they discovered Stan after he snuck into the Monstars' locker room.

At the second of the game, the Looney Tunes start playing well and the Monstars commanding lead is smaller. When Swackhammer calls for a time out, he is very grumpy with the Monstars for not stealing Michael's talent. Michael decides to raise the stakes with Swackhammer. After a deal, Swackhammer forces the Monstars to play dirty and crush the Looney Tunes. During the game the Monstars fight dirty and injured the Looney Tunes (which they violate the rules and should be immediately loses the game), Pound was about to do a belly flop on Lola, Bugs saves her then he got squashed by Pound and everyone in the stadium are horrified at this. Michael realizes that they need a fifth player first, he chooses Stan Podolak, but the Monstars piled on Stan. Then Bill Murray shows up as a fifth player.

When Michael makes the final shot, he is grabbed by Bupkus and Bang, trying to stop him. The Tune Squad won the game and the Monstars lost. Swackhammer was furious and berates them for losing the game, then Swackhammer angrily stomped on Bupkus's foot which causes him to howl in pain and he demands them to get in the spaceship. Michael asked them why they put up that kind of abuse. They then realize now that they're larger than Mr. Swackhammer, they quickly turn on him, tying him in a rocket, sending him to the moon.

Michael requests for them to give the skills back to their rightful owners, which would undo their transformation. Pound sadly asked if they have to and Michael reminds them it was part of deal they reluctantly agree to do so. They sadly placed their hands on the ball, which reverts them back into the Nerdlucks.

Other appearances
Their only other appearance to date has been a cameo in the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain special "Star Warners" as the patrons at the cantina bar.

Appearance
The Nerdlucks are small insectoid aliens who wear bowties, they have bug-like eyes, antennas, lizard-like noses and three fingers.

The Monstars are humanoid muscular aliens who wear navy blue basketball uniforms with gold trimlines and white zeroes on the front and on the back, white socks and navy blue sneakers. They have five fingers and pointy claw-like fingernails.

Personality
The Monstars are cocky, dangerous, intimidating, and formidable individuals who act like bullies around Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, and like in their Nerdluck forms, they are scared of Mr. Swackhammer and they're still loyal to him trying to please him. However, after they lost the game, they are tired of being mistreated then they turn on Mr. Swackhammer and got rid of him by strapping him to a rocket then they had a change of heart. They are also childish when they are reluctant to give the NBA players' talent back.

Quotes
"You ever heard of the dream team? Well, we're the mean team, wussy man."

- Pound beginning to bully Michael Jordan upon meeting him.

"You're all washed up, Baldy!"

- Bang insulting Michael Jordan.

"Hey, little pig. Boo!"

- Blanko scaring Porky Pig.

"I don't play basketball anymore."

- Bupkus mocking Michael Jordan.

"We're the Monstars. M-O-N-um..."

- Nawt trying to spell the word "Monstars".

"Let's see what you got, chump."

- Pound attempting to challenge Michael Jordan.

"Maybe you're chicken. (clucking like a chicken)"

- Bang taunting Michael Jordan.

"Okay birdie."

- Bang threatening Tweety Bird as he, Pound, and Blanko surround him.

"Because he's bigger. Than we used to be."

- Bupkus, then Bang, talking about Swackhammer, realizing something.

Trivia

 * Even though Mr. Swackhammer was their boss, the Monstars served as the Heavy because they directly opposed the Tune Squad and drove the plot of the story, which made Swackhammer the Big Bad and the one behind the plot.
 * When the Nerdlucks turned into the Monstars, they became giant monsters representing the basketball players whose talent they stole.
 * Though the Monstars violated the rules by fighting and crushing the Looney Tunes, the host of the game did not stop the game and announce the Monstars has lost and the Tune Squad wins by default.
 * The Monstars are thought to be the main antagonists of the film, since they appear more than Mr. Swackhammer and they actually battle the Looney Tunes, but this is not true, as they are actually misunderstood aliens who are bullied by Swackhammer.