User blog:MugenPuchiPuchiHime/"Latexistentialism" or "Why I think this cartoon villain is under-rated"

Jim Cummings, need I say more, is a legend in cartoons. Even way before Tom Kenny made his marks as a multi-talented voice actor, Jim's vast Curriculum Vitae of toon voices during his career made an impression on all of us. Most of us are familiar with his works for the House of Mouse... But those that are very nerdy with the subject might also notice that he did some other characters on non-Disney related shows, such as Mega Brain from Widget The World watcher, or...

This 'certain' villain from The Mask animated series who don't need any introduction. Heck, he loves introducing himself...

Before I go deeper in this review, here's my thoughts on the various Mask series:

"The Mask" original comic book (too dark; never read it) "The Mask" movie (very good) "The Mask" cartoon series (sort of like Freakazoid, but with an actual plot) "Son of the Mask" movie (has the same campy value of the infamous One Piece rap song, but I'm guilty of liking them both)

For this character review I'll take mostly of the episodes 'Double Reverse' and 'Power of Suggestion'...

In the first episode, we opened up to 'Frankenstein-wannabe' Walther who has just pulled a heist at a bank, to which he then gets greeted by our lovable Big Head himself... Before he then gets his head squashed that is!

Using his knowledge at other Jim Carey movie gags, our green hero won this little side-quest that had no point what so ever to the story. Moving on...

Later in the day, Stanley Ipkiss goes to an appointment with his psychiatrist, Dr. Neumann, who is voiced by no other than Ben Stein himself. Wow! An actual character voiced by the original movie actor is quite rare in our days.

So, Stanley tries to explain that he feels a bit down, because he sees being walked on by everybody he knows, and is quite unsure if his Mask persona is beneficial for him. Ironically, in the doctor's point of view, Neumann thinks that The Mask is an imaginary friend.

He then gives this advice from whatever random Dr. Phil book he quoted from:

"What if you were the inner child? What if you do the opposite of what you normally do? Act like the Mask, that is."

As I can recall, they've did the SAME plot in a Simpsons episode, and look how that turned out!

Eventually, Stanley gives in to the reverse psychology gimmick and lets himself loose at the bank: greeting an old woman at his desk, wearing nothing but a lampshade on his head and tribal markings on his chest, and talking like an alien... This smells like a random 'fail' video.

Not far away from there, here the plot finally opens up to Jim Cummings's villain for this series who is initially called Joe Blow. Joe works as an entrepreneur in a... Wait for it ... Balloon Factory!

GARY STU ALERT!

Yeah, his name sounds a bit weird for most fiction writers, but I know that a lot of anime series uses 'predestined' names for their characters like those in Sailor Moon... But when you apply that type of ploy in English it doesn't usually work that way.

So, apparently Joe (or Joey as I like to call him) was also reading the same book by Dr. Neumann so it would give him a muse at the psychology of why kids love balloons...

Coincidence? No, CHARACTER PLOT DEVICE!

His big goal at the time was to create the Holy Grail of balloons: one that never pops... But on a side note, this show predates the Stride gum commercials; there's a reason why we have an economy, Joey-kun.

But eventually, Joey's trial run of his creation malfunctioned as the inflating balloon tipped him over into the experimental latex rubber, before it blew up the whole factory into ashes...

We then move on to Stanley discovering that his little 'Britney Spears moment' gave his boss the bright idea to promote him... Yeah, I'm not 100% sure about how business management works, but being a total doofus of yourself isn't one of the core concepts...

Seeing that the reverse psychology has some potential for him, Stanley then prompted a fellow female co-worker to go on a date with him... WEARING A POTTED PLANT ON HIS HEAD! Man, you got this all wrong! If you want to get noticed by the opposite gender, try the 'What-A-Mess' method.

After this awkward moment, we found out that Joey had miraculously survived from the destruction of his factory.

I have to warn you though: this is when things got into Salvador Dali territory...

Try, and I do mean try (if you don't want to be spared from the weirdness just watch the actual show on Youtube), imagining Batman's Joker not only disfigured in his acid accident but ALSO having a body mutation that puts Kitana's 'kiss of death' to shame...

And you say that anime is messed up...

Ironically, defying all of the laws of nature, Joey somehow had his body reformed immediately after the explosion (it's cartoon logic, go fig'). Seeing how he has become a freak of nature, he thanks reverse psychology for understanding this 'unique' ability he was given and dubbed himself: KABLAMUS, THE EXPLODING MAN.

On Stanley's side, we see the series's hero confessing to his Doc on how much the therapy changed his life for the better... While playing with a shark hand-puppet, and humming the Jaws theme music... Like Don Adams would say in this sort of situation: "Would you believe that I wish to work with the Muppet workshop?"

Seeing of what a psychosis mess he made with his fellow patient, Neumann pleads Stanley to tone down the wacky and return to his old boring self. But Stan is too well at ease with his new lifestyle to all undo it and rather wants, for example, to waltz with his grumpy apartment landowner while making movie references...

Nevertheless, Stan is then confronted with his heroic duty to stop the newly formed villain as he was watching tv... As I can realize to that point, Joey doesn't have just a typical short tempered 'Napoleon complex', he also likes to show his oratory talents from his days at 'William Shatner's school of Ham'. Plus I may add that his costume looks suspiciously like an Evangelion plug-suit, well Asuka doesn't need her Type-D anymore per say...

When The Mask meets up Kablamus for the first time, he yells at him in his face to 'submit to his defeat'... I swear, and I'm not kidding, that Joey's hair looked like Vegeta's on that moment!

But Kablamus's ONLY concern is that he 'doesn't think the little children would like that'... Prompting The Mask to break the fourth wall and say to the audience: "Well I know you're there guys, but he's obviously got a problem, you-know-what-I-mean?"

Unfortunately during his daring vigilante scene, The Mask somehow looses his powers, and returns back to his alter ego form. Point taken that the cause of the problem was the effects of his reverse psychology therapy, and that acting out his Mask persona on a conscious level would eventually kill off his real Mask persona on his subconscious side. The solution to the dilemma is then evoked by the episode's title. Lame.

So, as the status quo laws foretold, Stan was faced with the consequence of resuming his 'doormat' attitude: turning down his promotion, being the slave labour of his landlord lady... But they just don't seem to work. Stanley tried to put the mask on his face at Neumann's office, nothing happened, except he does a lot of cartoon noises as to mimic how The Mask should act. To which, the poor Doc then tries to 'help' Stan by calling the nut-house...

After this little non-sense by Sigmund Fraud, Kablamus then crashes into the party. If you clearly hear Cummings's voice work on this particular scene, you could even be swayed by the 'Sterling Holloway' lisp being used in a sultry and menacing way. Take notes, Tim Curry!

Finally, Stan figured out that being talked down by the villain was the Id boost he needed so he can assume his Mask form once again. He pulled out this witty comeback (and stayed in the shadows of my memories for a very long time): "You know, there are three things I can't stand: Lima beans; itchy underwear(!); and slobs who tread on my threads."

Yeah, he'll probably need all his wits when Kablamus gets out his special weapon... PLUTONIUM!?

plot hole

HOW DID YOU GET THE PLUTONIUM? RADIO-SHACK? YOU'RE A BALLOON SELLER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

plot hole

Luckily, The Mask had pulled a switch by replacing the radioactive primer cap with one that has popcorn kernels... You could thank The Amazoness Quartet for giving him that idea.

In order to not causing anymore troubles from Kablamus, our hero then saves the day by installing a valve on his leg to make him unable to use his powers properly... If you want something that is WAY annoying than the 'vuvuzela' meme, there you go...

The first scene of the second Kablamus centric episode opens up to a banner posted on the Coco Bongo building which says:

"Annual Fluff Ball: Come and fluff it up!".

According to Wikitionary, there are a lot of things wrong in this picture... What do the mayor consider 'fluffy' in fact?

So apparently, the plot hook in this one is that the city's organizers must decide on who will become the grand parade marshal; The Mask being very enthusiastic with the whole deal of course.

Would you imagine that he actually tries to get his votes by breaking into Stanley's boss's bedroom and put up posters on the walls, and ALSO dumping beach sand on the mayor while they are asleep? That must be a pretty good reason for explaining why Lt. Kellaway is hot on his trails like L Lawliet would in Death Note... Minus the killing of innocent people, of course... In some way, The Mask is sort like a 'kid friendly' version of Death Note.

To get things in a tiff, Kablamus also wishes to become the parade marshal... And I guess that his parade balloon ideas came from looking at Tim Burton's artwork... Yeah, deep down he just want some praise, and he doesn't know how to it in a constructive way...

Later on, at the Coco Bongo, Stanley becomes a volunteer for a hypnotist show. The hypnotist then implanted a subconscious trigger on poor Stan to which he would do any command a person tells him to after he heard a popping sound. Seems a bit trite anyway...

But the villain shows up way too soon and butchered the hypnotist's moment to erase the trigger command from Stanley's mind.

The scene follows to Kablamus's balloons scaring the people in the room. I swear that the music in this scene is reminiscent to that of Power Rangers action fights. Is it just me, or the creators had to recycle some music scores from the Power Rangers? I could practically hear Rita Repulsa whining to herself!

Joey-kun, alas, fails to do his deed. Seeing that the people don't respect his idea that balloons ARE educational, he then goes old school... Like Inspector Gadget now!? Looks like somebody didn't follow the character bible of the show...

But what I don't understand is for some reason the mayor can't get out of being tied down by an INFLATED BALLOON TUBE... They break too easily in real life, you know!

Remember that I've nodded the fact that the hypnosis trigger wasn't erased? Well... Stanley being treated like a perv without his knowing. 'Nuff said.

Seeing that things are getting worse, Stanley tries to tell his dog Milo, over the phone, to bring the mask to him. We hear Stan's voice in the answering machine saying: "Bring the mask to the ball! Bring the mask to the ball!"

Milo then brings the mask to a toy ball on the floor of the apartment... This joke IS getting old. Really.

But the puns get better when The Mask arrives to Kablamus and shows him a twisted balloon in his hand: "Just look at what your dog left on my lawn! There are leash laws you know!"

Finally, the two opposing teams are aware of each other's willingness to become parade marshal... Including a 'big lipped alligator moment' of The Mask morphing himself into a woman wearing a swimsuit, and giving his trademark wedgie to the villain.

Eventually, the mayor wasn't all cheeky with the two crazy dimwits that he wants to monopolize the whole event to him, which leaves our villain in a blinding rage against humanity...

Prior to his escape, Kablamus then sees upon the weirdness caused by The Mask's hypnosis predicament... And the potentials to get a nice payback. As I always say: you can't spell Kablamus without Kaa (the snake, of course, not the bird calls that Ellen DeGeneres does).

The next morning, Stanley then FINALLY remembered that his trigger wasn't erased, so he then tries to meet up the same hypnotist, but to no avail. The guy's apparently in prison... Yikes. Plus adding to the fact that our villain is packing heat now! His balloons could have 'fluttered serenely in the parade, bringing joy to thousands' as he was surrounded with cases of dynamite in his lair...

I've got it now! He got the dynamite AND the plutonium from ACME like Wile E. Coyote! YEAH, I'm so smart!

Why don't Stanley know anything about Murphy's Law? DON'T MENTION BAD STUFF, OR ELSE IT WILL HAPPEN!! Because right on cue, Kablamus appears right out of nowhere in the parade telecast... I don't want to make a geeky joke here, but I could easily tell that his fav retro game is Dig Dug.

"That's the trouble with this economy: too much runaway inflation." The villain joked as he broke the fourth wall.

BEST. SNARKY. JOKE. EVER!

"People! People! People! Don't leave yet; this blowout just getting started!"

Would you believe after him saying this, he then activated a remote to make bombs drop on the crowd...

Yeah... I can see why the show isn't on DVD yet...

Having some sense knocked into him on the doom being caused, The Mask then came into scene... And calls his adversary the 'king of pop'... Dude! That's too soon now!

The really funny stuff that I liked in this episode is when The Mask toke Kablamus and rubbed him against his head, then stuck him on a wall by static electricity! It just cracks me up.

The Mask does a car race against the Shiners, and declared upon winning: "I would like to thank all of the little people. Weren't they great in the Wizard of OZ?"

Hum... That's not politically correct? Is it?

Eventually, our hero becomes a hypno slave by the villain... Yeah, I'm starting to think that there's a lot of subtle subtext in this as much as Kablamus is for...

For even more nod to psychology 'fan service', The Mask then goes Carl Jung and tries to psychoanalyze his adversary so he can 'get him in touch with his inner tube'...

But apparently, just by making Kablamus literally blow up with anger, and making him say to forget everything that happened at the Coco Bongo was all The Mask needed: to get out of grips with the hypnosis trigger, and taking revenge on the 'King Koo Koo' baddy.

There are two other episodes where Joey-kun is seen, but in non-centric stories: 'Santa Mask' where he dresses up like Santa with the other bad guys (plus being poorly animated during the Jingle Bells scene), and 'Broadway Malady' where he looks just like Ashley Simpson in her 'Outta my head' music video.

So, in conclusion, Kablamus is one of those campy melodramatic villains that has an anime appeal without being Japanese in the first place... Put him in a random plot of Totally Spies, and you wouldn't see the difference.

If you can get pass over the 'uncanny valley' related to his powers, this Jim Cummings character is the perfect screwball moment for a Kingdom Hearts fan whom wouldn't think in his lifetime that Pooh-san's English seiyuu can be creepy... Or at least something that acts like a large ham for the sake of funny.