G&C Podcast - Episode 216: The Games That Shaped Us #17: Big Action Garage!

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, on this episode of Gaming and Collecting, me and Alex are returning to our The Games That Shaped Us series, this time covering a particularly infamous game from our childhood, Big Action Garage. This game is something. But anyways guys, on with the episode.

[00:00:19] I said no! Is that your bad?

[00:00:43] I'm really bored. I just want to start my new job. Like, there's only so much shit you can do at home. Like, before you eventually get really bored of it. Yeah. I very much want to go back to work. But April, April 1st. April Fools Day! April Fools Day!

[00:01:13] Oh my god, I didn't even realize that. Oh, I wish you responded to that in my email back. No, it's fine. April Fools! April Fools! Anyways, how are you doing today, Bill? How are you doing? I'm tired. This week was long, draining.

[00:01:38] The weather has been weird this entire week. Like, it started out really cold and then it got warm and then it was cold this morning. Well, it was windy today. Like, that was the big... Yeah. It wasn't actually that cold, but because of just how frickin' windy it was, it felt a lot colder. Because I was gonna bike ride today, but then I, like, felt the breeze and I said no thank you. Um, what else? Uh, oh yeah.

[00:02:04] But I have a couple rides planned with one of my former co-workers in my bike club. So, we'll, I'll probably do a couple rides next week, which I'm looking forward to. Uh, have you been watching anything now that you finished Attack on Titan? Or are you taking a mental... Um... ...hiatus from in the way after that? I haven't watched anything new. Cause yeah, Attack on Titan, I'm still... I'm still processing that one.

[00:02:32] Yeah, for you, it was like, I forget that. Like, for me, I watched it, like, in pieces. Like, I watched it as it came out. Yeah, I watched it in one go and... And I, I, I feel like watching it in one go must have felt more like a lot, so... Watching season four alone in one... So I watched season four in a night. Yeah. And that shit... Season four is where it gets you very insane. So, understandable.

[00:03:02] Slade was right when he said season three, the ending of season three is the good ending. Holy fuck. Season... Yeah. I won't get into it cause we're gonna do a whole episode on it, but... I was not expecting the ending to be as bleak as it was. I wasn't expecting it to be a good ending. But I, I was actually kind of... It was a bit of a downer just how bleak that show ends. No, yeah. I mean like, remember though, I think throughout the whole show, it wasn't a very happy show. Any of it.

[00:03:32] So, but I feel like that's what kind of makes it great. Cause sometimes like, it's good to have a story that's, you know, not your typical... Woohoo! Everything's great! Happy ending! You know, sometimes it's a little nice to have something completely different. Yeah. But you do wish some characters didn't die. There was a couple that I was upset about dying. So, sure. I mean, yeah, cause she was fun. She was like the one character that was lighthearted in this goddamn show. She really was.

[00:04:01] Well, and I feel like that actually what like her death was actually very impactful for the show because she really was kind of that light in the darkness of like everything going on. And like, it really did shift because in season four, it gets even darker. Oh yeah. And it literally could have been any character on that goddamn ship. And of course the one that gets killed is the one that everyone likes. Yeah.

[00:04:25] And it doesn't help too that the character that kills her not only is just obnoxious to begin with, but is basically takes over as the main, one of the main characters for season four. Everyone hates them. And despite having a pretty interesting character arc, she's so fucking annoying. And like, she doesn't do herself any favors that even by the end, I'm like, I still don't care. I still don't like you. Yeah. Yeah. No, but they were designed to be hated.

[00:04:54] Like it had to have been intentional. Like you weren't supposed to like this character. Well, there were so many characters you didn't like, you know, in that show, but understandable that you took a break from anime. Any plans to watch any show, but you're still watching like you're watching ongoing. Like, fun fact, the episode of my happy marriage this week was fucking trauma. Like I was like, why? You were telling me that. How many episodes did you do? That was just, that was episode nine that just came out.

[00:05:22] So we got, it's going to be pretty soon. It's, I think there's like four more. Well, four more weeks. Uh, well I've been trying to watch like a bunch of, cause Netflix has a lot of really interesting shows on there that you like wouldn't normally click. Um, like I watched cells at work. I think I said that last time. And then I watched cells at work called black, which I really liked code black. Like, it was just really funny going from like this perfectly healthy body to this guy. Who's just a fucking mess.

[00:05:52] I love how my exact response when you told me that was, Oh, it's so it's anime osmosis Jones. No. Yeah. Like it was just like a guy who was like, like, like one of the best parts is that like, like they go over like the gross stuff about the body in the show. Like it's in the other ones. Oh, it's great. Uh, but then I watched, I picked one that I probably would have never watched, but I'm actually really glad I did. Have you ever heard of Vinland saga?

[00:06:21] I see the, I see the books all the time. I've heard of it. Yeah. I went in with like no expectation. I had no idea what it was about. It was like, honestly, first season, I wasn't as interested. And then the second season, I was locked in. Like, I just like the story was just very so different from everything that's going on.

[00:06:46] Like it's no superpowers, no supernatural, but also like very like trippy at times, like with just dark imagery. Like, um, it all has to do with the time of like the Vikings. Mm hmm. And like when they came over, like oversee to like conquer some of the land. So it all has to kind of do with that that's happening. But your main character you're following is, um, very, it, it's very interesting.

[00:07:12] He's kind of like, he was a kid at first that wanted to be a Viking and then soon learned that the Viking life is not as fun and games as it actually is. I don't want to say anything else because it kind of like spoils the whole plot, but very good watch. Like I really would recommend, like I had no expectation. It's not saying I would normally watch, but it was so refreshing to watch something that kind of had no supernatural elements to it.

[00:07:40] Like there's no powers like this, just people like fighting and war. And like, this is really interesting. Nice change up. I did watch. So I did actually watch something not new, but, um, I was bored and where it left off left me really annoyed because it's right on a cliffhanger. I rewatched all of season two of social that's out of solo leveling.

[00:08:04] So that was, uh, that's like what, like that show has just got you hooked and I'm really in. Oh, have they, have they gone to the episode? That's like had the most, have you gone to the episode that has the most dislikes yet? Oh, you mean, you mean, you mean the FMA fans that are attacking it because it's, it's, it's daring to be better than brotherhood. No, no, no. This was, this was a different reason why people were disliking it.

[00:08:30] So no, um, I know what episode is cause I fucking read it spoils everything. Well, I mean, I think you kind of know, but the changes they made, I'm really annoyed about like why people are upset about the changes they've made. Like, do you, do you know what it is at this point? It's the episode where he finally does the thing he's been trying to do since he started his quest. Yeah. Like, and like so many people are spoiler warning or we're just going to say spoiler warning at this point. If you don't want to hear.

[00:08:59] We've already spoiled attack on Titan. I know. Yeah. But this one's newer. So if you don't want to hear anything, skip, just skip it over. I'll make like a funny sound once I'm done. Um, but like people are so mad that like, he's crying over like his mom who had been in a coma forever. And like, I've read the manga and I have to say from the clips I've saw just of the sub

[00:09:24] that scene was elevated so much better than the manga portrayed it because like, just imagine like your parent had been gone for that long. You're not going to sob and cry your eyes out. And like, also, I think people remember that even though he's becoming like this, like shadowy tough character. Remember who he was in the first couple of episodes? Like he was a very wimpy and a very emotional character.

[00:09:51] And he still is like, he might be a little different, but I was just really annoyed by like all the people disliking it because he cried. And I'm like, suck it up. You would cry too. If like your mom came back to life after basically they gave her a death sentence. So I know part of that is apparently like it's getting review bombed because it's, it's daring to be better than full metal. It's crazy. People need to stop.

[00:10:16] Like, it's just like, I'm sorry, but like, there could be no great. There's great shows. Free run. I know. Show. Like this show is also really great. So just fuck off. That was my funny sound. I know. It just, it annoys me so much because full metal. I was brought that is a great show, but it actively is makes me dislike it more and more over the years with just how psychotic that fan base is.

[00:10:42] Well, that's the thing is like a fan base can really make you dislike something because I remember like when there was like a gap between my hero academia, like between some of the seasons. And I was just like, oh, like this fan base is so fucking annoying, but it got really good. So I got back into it. But for a while, I did think I was going to drop it after I think it was like the third or fourth season. I thought I was going to drop it, but I kept going. I'm glad I did because the next season after was like, holy shit.

[00:11:12] Um, I do know the next this weekend's episode of soul leveling is the conclusion of the, uh, the, uh, the hell dungeon. He's okay. Where we're going to see his, we're going to see his little purple friend that Reddit spoiled for me as well. So his little, oh, oh yeah. The one that the fan base loves and that never appears again. Actually she does. Well, I know she appears in the sequel, but not in this series. Yeah.

[00:11:42] No. Uh, yeah. What else? The following week will be the big episode. Oh, where they go to Juju or the cry, the cry. I will say my favorite line in the previous episode was, uh, he, he's about to go to the dungeon and he's, um, because he's now Mr. Popular. He's the paparazzi are surrounding his house. So he's like, all right, need someone to protect, protect Jina. And he said, he leaves like one of the three generals. He's like, wait, wasn't there four of you?

[00:12:12] They just point to the ceiling. He's like, oh, right. I threw that one at the ceiling. Oh, well, it just moves on from it. I remember reading that in the manga and just having a real good laugh. I'm telling you, like, there become so many more goofs and gaffs, the more, um, shadows he collects. Cause like some of them are just so silly. Um, well, my favorite is when he's like going to name that one for that. And he gets from that dungeon. And he's like, what was your name again? Uh, uh, sorry, man.

[00:12:41] I'm going to call you Tusk. He does that quite a bit too. Um, like one of the, I I'm really looking forward to one of the next really strong shadows. He's going to get because he's so silly. He's so silly. He's so strong, but he is so sick. You don't know who I'm talking about, but, uh, you do remember how I, um, we're already spoiling it. So it doesn't matter.

[00:13:07] But, uh, you remember how early on I commented that I didn't realize who that long haired guy that attacks the guy who's after Jinwoo is the long haired guy. The guy who, um, the, the, the guy who's mad that Jinwoo killed his brother. Um, but that's great. The bald guy. Yeah. The bald guy. And he's interrogating the guy that was in the dungeon. That's mysterious. And I, I told you, I didn't know who he was. Uh, I rewatched the season and didn't realize he flat out says who he is in that scene.

[00:13:38] Oh, like I was like rewatch it. I must've like glit, like brain farted over it when he says it. Cause he flat out says my son's name is Jinwoo. I'm like, Oh, Oh, Oh, that's what you're. Oh, he flat out says it. And I'm like, Oh, I didn't know where you were going with it. I thought you were more talking about like the bald guy being the, no, no, no, no, no, no. The guy. Yeah. Yeah. When I first watched it, I must've like, just not heard that line. Cause I was confused who this guy was. And then all of a sudden I rewatched it. Like, huh?

[00:14:08] Did I miss that the first time? Keep that in the back of your pocket because it's not, I don't think you're going to get a big followup in this season, but eventually there will be a followup. And it's a huge plot point. So don't forget that. Um, but yeah, well, I'm glad you're liking it. I can't wait to fucking watch it. Like, I just want it all to be out. Like, it's so fucking frustrating, but, um, there's like a ton of them too. Like right now there's just like so many bangers.

[00:14:37] Cause like, um, there's Dr. Stone, like science future, which I've been waiting to watch too. But I also want to, that one at least is coming out. Like what the dub is coming out with it. So I don't have to wait this long, but I want to watch that. I want to watch my happy marriage. I want to watch the apocritory diaries. I want to watch the leveling. Um, I got to watch. I think it's going to finish the dub. This one was actually last season, but I watched Shangri-La frontier last year and I actually really liked it.

[00:15:05] And the season two is just finishing up the dub. Cause it's one of those 25ers. Um, that comes out, but I started watching pretty good is going to be finished soon too. Oh yeah. And that will be on my list too. There's a bunch of them that actually seem pretty interesting right now. I, I wanted to choose like one of the ones that has like the Netflix original. So I started watching tiger and bunny, um, which I had no idea what it was, but it's a superhero show.

[00:15:34] Um, but it's pretty funny. Like the main character, um, he's like a superhero. But he's an old man. Cause compared to all the other superheroes and he's like kind of sucks at his job. So they pair him up with someone else. Basically be like, look, like you either pair up with this guy or you quit. And he's like, fuck, I gotta work with this youngster, but they have the same power, which their power is. They have like basically like super strength, but it only lasts for five minutes. So they have to use it strategically.

[00:16:03] It's been pretty fun watching it. Uh, but the second season is like a Netflix original. Like the first one, I don't know if it was Netflix who made it. I don't think so. Cause it came out in like 2011. Hmm. And then the following, the newest one came out in like 2022, 2020. So it was quite a bit of a gap. Uh, but I've been enjoying it. It's been pretty funny. It's silly. Like it's not anything serious. It's a silly goofy show.

[00:16:29] Um, yeah, but there's no good stuff on Netflix. You just go watch it. That's where I found Vinland saga. Well, I'd see. I've seen. I've heard it's good. It's just one of those things where it's like, how long is it? Uh, it's two seasons, 24 episodes each. Okay. So it's a 48 or. Yeah. Now it was, it was, it's worth the watch.

[00:16:54] It can, I do say like some of the visuals and like, I would say the best way to describe it are the character. It's characters feel haunted by their past actions. Uh, so they have a lot of like kind of trippy visuals and stuff, but like a lot of like dark shit happens. And, uh, but like, it's also a lot of character growth as well. Cause you really see the main character go through one.

[00:17:22] You see him start out as a child and then grow into an adult man. Uh, but you also have to see him work through a lot of issues he has with himself and with the stuff he's done in his past and how he needs to now overcome that move on and become a better person. His mind. Uh, it was very, very interesting. Very good boss. Not something I would normally pick, but very fascinating and a good story, but yeah, that's so good.

[00:17:52] So how many, how much, what's your number? What number are you up to on your watch list bill? Um, it's been a while since I checked. Uh, let's see this as of right now, 19. Fuck. I'm at 18. Well, I'm at 18 new and then seven rewatches. So technically I'm beating you. Technically I'm winning.

[00:18:22] Uh, I will get more. I've been watching a lot of long ones too. So that's pretty good. I got my long one out of the way. Now I'm going to just go through it as I go. Has Slade been a good noodle? Has he? I don't know. Did he lose his good noodle star? He hasn't watched his homework yet. I know. Bad noodle. You're not a good noodle. Um, I wasn't a good noodle at work today.

[00:18:52] What did you do? Nothing. Uh, for the last hour of work, I did nothing. Right. I did my classic. Um, I don't feel like working. So I'm just going to grab a broom and push it around the shop randomly. No one seems to question this whenever I do it. I've done this on multiple occasions where I'll just grab a broom and start pushing dirt around. It's hard. It works. It works.

[00:19:18] Like sometimes that bill there's been days where like, I remember like it's a Friday afternoon. No one's fucking doing shit. Like no one ever does. Like, cause they just want to go home. Like that last hour, useless, unproductive. You're not going to get anything done. Um, that's funny. That's really funny. I've done that so many times. We're union. So it's not like they can do anything about it. So yeah. What are you drinking, Bill? I am drinking.

[00:19:47] You the music. Hopefully I can hear it this time. Yeah. I love when I can hear it. Because NASCAR and I'm a shameless NASCAR fan drinking a Bush Light. Ew. It's not particularly good, but NASCAR does weird fucking shit to you. I swear. Give us a fact. Uh, a light beer. How many calories?

[00:20:17] U.S. Farmed. Uh, they don't give you that on this. So you don't. It ain't a lot of. Is there any, any fluid ounces? It was brewed in the U.S. You know what? It's cold. It's cold and smooth. That's pretty good for Bill. We will take it. Now, Bill, are you gonna ask me what I'm drinking? What are you drinking? Even though I already saw it. I'm drinking. Britta filtered water from my water bottle.

[00:20:47] What water bottle? Not water bowl. My water bottle. Alex's water dish. She tried. Yeah. One of, uh, before I left my job, one of the, um, guys I'm really good friends with, uh, gave me that sticker. Yeah, legit you tried sticker. Yeah, he gave it to me cause he's like, you know what? Out of all the people here, you really tried and honestly, you deserve to quit. This place sucks is what he said. Uh, yeah.

[00:21:17] Oh, apparently I was texting one of my friends from there. Apparently the breaker broke and they had no power. I'm gonna go through the IJ. That place is a shithole. I don't even care. Like that place fucking sucked. That was the worst place I've ever worked. Um, anyways, but yeah, they gave me, you tried. You tried. You tried. And I really, I really did. I really did. No, I really did. I got so far. So I put on my water bottle so I could always see it because honestly, I really did try. I tried my best.

[00:21:46] In the end is literally your song for that place. No, it is. That's the theme song. Um, but anyways, I have some facts about Brita filtered water or Brita filters. Uh, Brita filters reduce impurities in drinking water, including the chlorine taste and odor, as well as health contaminants. Uh, Brita filters work by trapping and holding those contaminants.

[00:22:12] They remove chlorine, copper, zinc, mercury, lead, black, flex. I don't know what that means. Uh, microplastics bacteria. Oh, those are in my brain. And they help keep a healthy level of fluoride and fluoridated medicinal tap water. I don't know. I just go, this is the Google AI facts.

[00:22:40] Oh, that, so all of that was bullshit, but. Uh, one Brita filter can replace up to 300 standard 16.9 ounce water bottles. I'm saving the planet. I'm saving the planet. And I, I tried. I tried. Also, if you're listening to this, there will be a video version today. Cause I have makeup on and my hair is straight. Kind of. It's straight. It's not as curly as it usually is. Meanwhile, I, I look tired and.

[00:23:11] Oh, fuck. I messed. I think I messed up my lips. Oh, well. I don't think you can really tell. No, no one would have noticed until you pointed it out. I. Well, I felt myself do it. Cause I get lipstick on the bottle. Um, I've noticed. Fuck it. If anytime you get a drink, I always look at this straw and I'm like, Oh yeah. Yep. I wear lipstick. It helps hide the ugly. Oh, it's all fucked up. Oh no. Uh, all right.

[00:23:40] Whatever. No, it's kind of. You shouldn't have. You shouldn't have brought attention. It helped a little bit. Anyways. Um, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Anyway. You're no fun. We have a very interesting game that shaped us today. Oh, yes, you do.

[00:24:11] You watched a play through of this game. I did. I did. So way too long designing the thing. I'm just going to say. If it's the one I'm thinking of. Yeah. Yeah. So this, this one's going to be interesting. This is a game that shaped us. That is very personal to us because this game did shape us in a lot of ways. Yeah. It gave us some nightmares. This game. This game. Not only is a great example of the Mandela effect, but it's also a great example of childhood fucking trauma.

[00:24:40] Um, and you're going to laugh when I, when you've seen that, you've seen the cover already. Just calling this game trauma, but it really was. You were terrible. Alex, you had to hide when I played this game. Cause you were that afraid. Like, you know what the funniest part is though? When we were trying to, cause this was a great case of, um, tip of my joystick, which is the Reddit page for like trying to find games that you, you, you, you remember the concept,

[00:25:10] but you can't remember the name. Yeah. Um, that was us when we were, um, hanging out. I, before I even moved. It was just like a weekend. You'd just come up for a weekend at my old apartment. And we were like trying to find something to watch. And like, we had that thought in our heads of like, what is this game? All we could remember was it was a putt, putt rip off. And there was a demonic evil toe truck and it gave everyone nightmares. So I remember I looked up putt, putt rip off evil toe truck nightmare. And legit.

[00:25:38] The first thing that pops up is I think it's big action garage. I remember this game. Like it was just that. And I immediately I looked it up and I saw that fucking smug ass putt, putt rip off on the cover. I'm like, this is it. All the memories are kind of terrible though. It's like when I was a kid, I never made the connection that this was a putt, putt rip off. My brain just never connected that I was like, Oh, this is putt, putt. But it's different enough.

[00:26:08] But it's such a putt, putt rip off. Yeah. Um, so big action garage is the game we're talking about. This is literally a baby game. It is. It's Fisher price. It's a Fisher price. This game is meant to sell toys. Like this is an advertisement. Well, yeah, because you can still buy the big action garage. Like to this. Oh, yeah. You can still buy the actual toy set. I found a copy of I actually found a copy of this game on eBay.

[00:26:36] I didn't buy it because I don't I can't play it and be I don't care that much. This should be on steam. Just saying it was on eBay. This game and the other game in this quote unquote series. Um, there's another one. Not the same character, but it was big action. Like so it was part of Fisher prices big action series. Oh, okay. Um, I think it was big action construction. So a rip off of Tanka. Tanka. Um, they were both on sale on eBay.

[00:27:04] Some guy was selling them for five bucks and I was tempted for a minute and I'm like, I wouldn't even be able to play it on a fucking Windows 10 PC. So I said, fuck it. Um, but yeah, this game is weird. Yeah. Um, it is a shameless money grab to sell to sell toys. Um, you can still buy the toys on eBay. And also based off a game that was doing very well. The humongous entertainment games were very popular by kids.

[00:27:32] It also featured elements from blues clues and race rabbit games. I don't know what race rabbit was, but it sounds weirdly familiar. I feel like that might be some of the racing elements of the game, which I say have to be some of the poor aspects. A lot of this game was pretty poor. Um, so as a basic, um, summary, big action garage, you take place, but you, you take control of all the names in this game are really dumb, by the way.

[00:28:02] They're, they're really bad car puns. Uh, Jimmy Fender X bill is a masterpiece of a name. And I think you should apologize to the creators of this game right now. Okay. Jimmy Fender X was clever, especially when you see him, you go, Oh, Um, also can we talk about some of the characters designs in this game too? When we are fucking horrifying. So scary. They are horrifying. The tow truck is not as scary. Anyways, continue.

[00:28:32] Continue. Also the tow trucks. Scary value goes down. Once you realize, um, his name is toughy tow truck. Yes. Well, he's supposed to be tough, but toughy just kind of sounds like toffee and not very threatening. Uh, the intro for this game is weird too, is it starts out like this weird CGI. Yeah. Of the, of the big action garage play set. Yeah. And you play as the main character, Tommy treads. Yep. He's a truck.

[00:29:01] I think even though his in-game sprite looks like Clifford, the big red, red dog more. Yeah. Also like his look on the box. He does not look like that in the game. No, not the CGI model or his. Like in the game, he does look like a dog. Like he has a little like nose. He doesn't have that on the cover. Like the little black nose. And he also doesn't have the little red for some reason. He also doesn't have the little bangs. There's no little bangs in the game. Must've been.

[00:29:31] Yeah. He's also supposed to be a truck. He's a truck. I think so. I don't, I just thought he was an abomination. Yeah. It's a very ugly thing, but basically you play as Tommy treads and he's visiting his, he, he go, he's going through the big action garage when he comes across his friend, Casey Coop. This apparently. We'll continue.

[00:29:57] And then I'll say, say, say, well, he finds his friend, Casey Coop, who must've gotten the shit kicked out of him. Cause he's like, you know, you know, the upper level of a parking garage without a wheel and like smashed and shit. I'm like, what the fuck happened? He got jumped. Probably. Tubby tow truck. They also imply that this has happened multiple times. Like I'm pretty certain this is like, oh, you got, he got broken down again. Like, I'm like at that point, I'm like, you know what? You're in the right. The tow truck's in the right.

[00:30:27] It's time to go to the scrapyard. Casey Coop. Your time's over. Basically what happens though, is like, he's saying how he's damaged. And if he doesn't get saved soon, the tow truck's going to come and take him away. And I shit you not, this tow truck was the most horrifying thing as a child. Yes. And not now. But if you look at the thumbnail for this episode, you'll see him on the cover of the thumbnail. And there's a reason why our bitmojis are facepalming because that was, we thought that was terrifying as children.

[00:30:58] I still remember the visceral. He did not look like that. He did not look like that when I was younger. I do not remember that. I still remember the visceral reaction when we saw him when we revisited it a couple years ago. And we went, that was the tow truck. We were like, this was the thing that terrified us for years. He was so scared.

[00:31:24] Like, I looked up like different artwork and different clips and every one of them, I'm like, no, none of that was terrifying. I don't know what happened. I still... Children brains. Like, you just, your brain grows up and then you look at things that you thought were scary. Then you're like, I was scared of this. I'm like... You know what happened, Alex? I saw Akira at 11. That's what happened. It was all downhill from there.

[00:31:52] Well, that just fucking desensitized me to anything, basically, from that point, so... Oh my goodness. Oof. But yeah, so the game, aside from that, that very trippy, the intro, the game is literally a putt-butt ripoff. Like, you point and click, not nearly as much fun shit to click on. No. They put more effort in making the backgrounds like very animated and alive. Like, the backgrounds, I will admit, are kind of nice.

[00:32:20] And there was a lot, I think, a lot more places to explore as well. Yeah, it was a pretty... It's a very linear map. Like, you kind of go in a circle when you go through the game. Yeah. But basically, the game doesn't really have the exploration aspect that putt-putt does. Because it's more of you go from one thing to the next. Because you need... Similar to Puppet, you need like a list of McGuffins, basically, to continue.

[00:32:51] And... We need to collect the parts to repair KC Coop. But honestly, at one point in the game, like, Tommy just goes, eh, fuck that. I want to go to a concert. Like, and that's where I'm like, you're a bad friend. If you're really his friend, you shouldn't be focused on going to a walking concert. Also, that fucking concert where it's like this weird fashion model car thing that looks like a My Little... Olivia Octane. She looks like a My Little Pony. She does.

[00:33:19] And she walks on her hind wheels the entire time. It's so weird. Yeah. And she's the only one that does that. Yeah. But what's the first thing you do in this game? The first thing you do is you go to the body shop. Yes. Where you have a mini game where you can basically decorate the cars. And in the playthrough I watched, he spent an excessive amount... Well, that was the thing about all of these games. You could print out a bunch of different shit. You could print your junior detective batch. Yes. I always did.

[00:33:49] And then broke the printer. That's why I didn't after that. Because printers are bullshit. Yeah, but that one is literally just like paint the car. And then you just get the item afterwards. They're just like, alright, fuck off. Isn't that the place with Hendrix and Fendrix? I'm sorry. Jimmy Fendrix. I want to look up a picture of him. He's on the thumbnail. I feel like... Oh, he is?

[00:34:16] I believe it's him and his buddy I included. Oh, no, no. That's not him. Oh, no, no, no. That's not... I think Jimmy Fendrix is the one that has like the dreadlocks. Yeah, that's... That's the one. No, it is. It is. It's the one... Not dreadlocks. It's the one with like... I don't know what type of car. I think he's supposed to be like a monster truck. And he has like the sunglasses. Yeah, yeah. He has no actual pupils. He actually has the sonic eye going on. And he has green hair.

[00:34:46] He looks like... He looks like a really bad interpretation of Jimmy Hendrix. And it's actually kind of offensive. Oh, he has a car on the back too! He has a guitar! Yeah. You paint. All you do is you paint. It's literally... Make an abomination. That's the play through where like the guy spent way too long. I had to skip through. I was like, I don't fucking think... I think... I'm pretty sure that's the same play through we watched like a couple years ago. And we both commented, why is this guy taking so fucking long? So long.

[00:35:16] Yeah. But yeah, you do that and you get the... The tire for doing that for some reason. You get a tire for painting a car. Also like none of these really make sense. But you know, it's a kids game. So they're not gonna think about that. Adults will when they think back on it and go, why was there trauma associated with this game? The fucking Fisher Price game. Yes. And then the next stuff was the racetrack. Yes.

[00:35:44] Where you get to race against Bernie Rubber. And what type of car is Bernie Rubber supposed to be? Because he looks like a lizard with wheels. He's supposed to be like a top field dragster, like drag racer. They only go straight. So I don't know why he turns in his race, but... Yeah, I... He looks like a lizard. He doesn't look like a car. I mean, that's fair. He has a lizard mouth. We have... We've got dog car.

[00:36:13] Pony car. I mean, the tow truck looks like a dinosaur. So I mean... Yeah, he does look dinosaur-esque. Uh... Yeah, none of these make sense. But that race... Like the fact that that game made you do three races... The poor kids would probably... Yeah, why'd you have to do three? The poor kids would probably... And like, I'm watching them play and I'm like, this looks like it controls like shit. So I'm just imagining us poor kids, you probably had to do this.

[00:36:42] I probably like was like, Bill, this is your time to shine. And I feel like you must have had some frustration with this. Yeah, it took us... So the thing with this game too is like, you don't have to finish these in order. Like you can skip one and then come back later. Because it literally goes in a circle. You just keep going around and around. Yeah. But yeah, the... This one took a bit because it's literally just like... It's like a race like in a straight line, but like it... The controls are bullshit and like, it's like they throw random traps in your way. It's just... It's dumb.

[00:37:11] You get a spark plug for beating it though. One of the fucking Bernie rubber spark plugs. Like I guess he doesn't need all of them. I guess not. Yeah. And he's like very reluctant and he's a little pissed because he's like this stupid fucking dumb ass little dog truck beat me. What the fuck? I was designed for this. So I'd be mad too if I was him. And then there's Cliff's Quicklube.

[00:37:37] Which is the place with the most horrifying character in the game in my personal opinion. Cliff Convertible. Why are his teeth like that? Oh, that's where... Oh, yeah. And then his weird abomination of a friend in the back. Yeah, his hobo friend with like his scary yellow eyes. His eyes are frightening. His lucky wheels too horrify me. Yeah. His teeth though. Yeah. Cliff, his teeth. Oh.

[00:38:05] Oh, is that supposed to be hair on his head? I think so. It's scary. Look up these designs, people. No. The thing is though is like... Don't try Googling the names. You're not going to find them. You just got to look through the screenshots and hopefully figure out. You mean if you search Tuffy Tow Truck, it's not going to come up? No. I typed in Olivia Octane and nothing came up. So... Okay. Yeah, this one is dumb.

[00:38:33] It's essentially you have to repair an engine. And basically, it's just a match and put the car pieces in the car minigame. Also, I think this was a missed opportunity to give the player more things to do. Of like when you finally get to KC Coop, you should actually fix them and put them back together. But they never thought about that. Like you could have just copy and pasted this minigame over and had extra content. So... There you go. I gave Fisher Price, Mattel.

[00:39:03] I think that's who owns Fisher Price. I gave him more content. Remake this game and add that. Fisher Price is probably like, what? Big action what? No, honestly, they probably have no fucking idea. But yeah, I remember that. What I hated about this minigame though was, every single time... You literally take all the broken parts out of the car and then you put the new parts in. And it's... Every time you do it, they're always like, oh, there's an extra piece here. It just happens to be the part you need.

[00:39:32] Here, you can have it. And it's just like... Yep. Cool. Great. And then you go to... Then next was Spooky Garage. Garage. Woo! Where you have to grease the ghosts. And I think this is where you meet Bugaboo. Which, what a name. Bugaboo. Fun fact. Because... Our...

[00:40:01] Keyboard was messed up on the Hot Wheels computer. I could never beat this one as a kid. Because... This one is essentially... It's like Space Invaders. We get to shoot the ghouls with this oil can. And because the keyboard wasn't working right... Probably because we smashed it while being mad at a video game. Probably. His children. Um... Could not fucking do anything. It was like impossible to beat. So I was like, well, I guess I'm never beating this game.

[00:40:31] Trying to see what Bugaboo looked like. I like don't remember. I think he was more horrifying than... Yeah. Well, I'm trying to see. I found Moby Games. I don't know what that website. This one actually has some screenshots of the... They have screenshots of the game. The ghost game. But there's no picture of Bugaboo. Unfortunately. So... I already forgot who he was. Yeah. I guess he wasn't that memorable. No.

[00:41:01] Uh, you get a muffler though. For, uh... Eating that. You do. Yeah. It's basically... It follows the... Do the little task. Uh, you get a... You get a surprise. And then you go to, uh... I'm just kidding. And then you go to Diesel's Palace. Yes. Where you go through the backstage maze to find Olivia Octane. What? And you don't get anything for this. This is just completely a waste of time. I thought you got oil. Oh. I thought you got oil.

[00:41:33] This list doesn't give a good answer. I think you do get something from it. I think you get like... Cause she has oil backstage and like... Cause... I think you go back... Oh, so this is where Tommy is just like... Yeah, fuck my friend. I'm going to the concert. I can't miss her. He's like... I gotta see the girl. Um... Cause he goes backstage. Also, he sneaks backstage. He's not supposed to be there. Yeah, this... Yeah, this wouldn't be okay nowadays. Like... At all. And the backstage maze... That animation like the...

[00:42:02] It has like the little... That was kind of trippy. When I was watching, I was like... Whoa. Like this is a little much. Yeah, it's like a top-down kind of maze thing. And it's bizarre. Yeah. But I believe Olivia Octane. Which she sings this like really fucking... Also, all the voice acting in this is awful. Like... It is the most like... I do not think... Alex, this game was to sell toys. They weren't trying to spend money. They were trying to make money. It's just like... I don't even think like...

[00:42:32] The person before like... Listened to the person they're supposed to have a conversation with. Because like... They just sounded so awkward. It's terrible. It's terrible. It doesn't... Doesn't it sound like she's not talking to a child? She's like talking to an adult and it's weird. Yeah. Uh... But yeah, she sings a song. And it's a pretty shitty song. Uh... There's no reference to it in here. So... Clearly they agreed. It's a bad song. There is a song section and it's blank. Like... This Wikipedia page is pretty fucking empty though. So...

[00:43:02] I mean, it's not in a real Wikipedia. It's part of Funny Bone Interactive Wiki. The company that made this game. Um... It doesn't... It's not even in the Fisher Price Wiki. It's in Funny Bone Interactive Wiki. They're just like... We want nothing to do with this hot bottle of garbage. Um... Then there was the auto park. Uh... This one... I... I like this character. I liked Ralph. The recycling truck. Ralph seems like a nice guy. Like...

[00:43:30] He seems to be the only sensible character in this game. So... I think he's underrated. Or he should have some Ralph propaganda. He also has a pedo stash. So... He probably shouldn't be around Tommy. But... Well, we don't know how old Tommy Trance is. He's just... He's childlike. Also, I love how all of the characters have... Really goofy names. Yes. And there's just... Ralph. The recycling truck.

[00:44:00] Although there's Scooter. Well, he's an actual Scooter. But like... Oh, I forgot Scooter could be a name. Yeah. That's both... That's both clever and lame at the same time. Yeah. Clever yet not clever. I remember... I feel like the... The... His get Ralph's game was actually really fun. Like the recycling game. Because you kind of just went fishing. Uh... Yeah. But it was also... You get a random part out of the garbage for KC. Yeah.

[00:44:30] Yeah. I think it was just like... He was like, here you go. Here's some trash part. Let's put it in KC Coop. And... Well, he's gonna obviously get mugged again. So... Yeah. He's just gonna... And at that point, it should be like a system. Like at that point, how many times you get mugged? Just put him down. It's so trash. We're talking about cars. Just gonna put that out there. We're talking about a stupid fucking game. Okay? Also, we forgot to mention KC's sister.

[00:45:00] You run into her and there's... There's no impact. She's just there. Yeah. She's like, please save my brother. And then drives off. And you're just like, fuck you, bitch. I do what I want. I'm gonna go see my little pony car. Sorry. My brain just had the thought of like... We're dropping F-bombs this game from... Yeah, but any... Anybody who played this game is an adult now. Yeah, true, true. Also, every...

[00:45:29] Every reference to this game I found on Reddit, there's always one comment mentioning the tow truck that scared them as a child. I'm just like, Jesus, we're not the only ones. Good! I need to actually look that up. There's not a lot of them, but I've seen... I saw a few. And then the final place, which has nothing to do with the actual game, it's literally just a CG cutscene, is the Comet Car Wash. Yeah.

[00:45:52] Where Tommy gets splashed by mud by Riggs, this insensitive truck that just every time you go past this one spot, you get covered in mud. Every time. Yep. Every time. Yep. Because you can just go in infinite circles. I used to do that just to watch the cutscene, because it was like... It stimulated my tiny child brain. I just looked up in the first comment... The only comment someone commented on, did anyone ever play Big Action Garage?

[00:46:21] Was, yes, the tow truck scared me. Yes. So I'm glad it wasn't just me. I can't... I remember when I was watching the playthrough, and when the car wash scene came up, I was kind of disturbed. I won't lie. I was like, this is weird. I don't know. The CGI just kind of made me uncomfortable. Yeah, it's the only other place where the CG happens, because it's the opening cutscene and then there, for some reason. Yeah. It made me uncomfortable.

[00:46:50] I didn't like it very much. Yeah, it's not a... This game is weird. Like... I didn't already fucking notice. This game is fucking weird. It's funny, because it's a shameless putt-putt ripoff. But at the same time, it's like the most half-assed putt-putt ripoff ever as well. I love this...

[00:47:14] Well, I think we should talk about Reddit like a little bit after, because I want to talk about just some of these like the same comments of us searching. I'm searching for it. But basically, after you do the car... Is the car wash pointless? You don't get anything out of it, right? Yeah, you get nothing. It's literally just a cutscene. It's a show of, ooh, CG. After the car wash, I mean, after that, and you collect all the things, that's when you can go back and save KC Coop. And it's like, they are the disper. You know what I think? I'm pretty sure that car wash was a toy.

[00:47:44] And that was just their promo for a toy. That actually makes a lot of sense. That probably was true. Yeah, because the only other CG I think was the actual big action garage, too. This game reminds me a lot of Power Rangers, where like the character will get this random new motorcycle in an episode. What? It was to sell toys? Who knew? What? Yeah. Um, but then you go, you save, you repair KC Coop. There's really no big impact.

[00:48:13] He's just like, I'm good now. And his sister, I think, gives Tommy a kiss on the cheek. And the tow truck is just like, well, fuck you. I was really excited that I could finally kill this guy. You know what the most interesting thing, though, is? The fact that like the tow truck straight up just waits. He actually lets them have a chance. He could have just like the second they left, he could have just scooped them up and left.

[00:48:38] He wasn't a real tow truck because any real tow truck driver would have taken that car as soon as they could. Like, he's not a real tow truck. And also, now that we're just going in, let's just discuss the tow truck design. Uh, you can see him on the cover, but like, he's just like a little, I don't know why they gave him a little sailor hat. Um, you know what he looks like? He looks like Bowser from the Mario Bros. Super Show. Oh my God!

[00:49:07] I wasn't thinking that. Like, it was in my brain. I just was not connecting that. Like, that is hilarious. That is exactly what he looks like. And I wonder if they were like inspired by that. Also, there's nothing threatening about him. No. Besides his creepy yellow eyes. Is he related to the other yellow eyed car? I doubt it.

[00:49:32] Um, also, the cover for this game has like nothing to do with the game. No, nothing at all. It's literally just a close up of KC Coop. In a garage with this like cool race car in the background that you never see in the game. No, yeah. Also, he looks nothing like his in-character model. Well, I feel like they tried to putt-putt him more in the game.

[00:49:56] Uh, but honestly like he's only, I feel like him and like, um, the, not the tow truck. The, um, what's his name? The one with the pedo stash. Ralph. Ralph. I feel like him and Ralph are the only ones that look like putt-putt characters. And I guess the little sister. Everyone else though does not look like a putt-putt character. So I guess they're kind of original.

[00:50:22] Uh, I also love in this photo of the tow truck with KC Coop and he just, how he looks like the shit's been beat out of him. Yeah. It's hilarious. Uh, like what the fuck? Like he was at the top of the fucking garage too. Like what the fuck happened? Like you did not get in an accident up there and there's no way you had an accident down below and then limped your way up there. You got the shit kicked out of you up there. He got mugged. Like something happened. Tommy mugged him. All right. Real story. Tommy beat the shit out of him.

[00:50:50] The tow truck beat the shit out of him. And then he's going to take him away. I feel like it's funny though. Tommy did. And he's just like, oh shit. I got fixed by Fred now. Uh, but that's why it explains why he doesn't actually care. And he goes to the concert and like fucks around in the car. Well, Alex in the opening cut scene, he goes, KC, what happened? No, that's him going. Casey. What happened? Even though he fucking did it. It was sarcasm.

[00:51:19] That's my deep story. And then as the tow truck. He's the one who did it. But then it gets. This is, this is like the fan. Wait, his name's not Casey. Tommy. No, no. Tom. Casey's the dead car. Tommy. Tommy. He will be. He should have been. This is the dark, like alternate version that you, that you write when you're an edgy teen. It's like, as Casey gets. The fan page. Yeah. As he gets. Are we actively writing Fisher. No, no, no, Alex. Alex.

[00:51:50] Here we go. As he gets towed away by the tow truck. Tommy looks at the eyes and goes, don't worry. I'll take care of your sister. And then gives him a week. You know what? There's probably rule 34 of it somewhere. I don't want to know. No, no. There is rule 34. Google it. You know, you know how rule 34 works. Um. If you say it exists. If it exists. There is. Google it. Google it. I don't want that on my Google. Um. Damn it. I don't want to Google it.

[00:52:20] Um. Oh, I really like. When I was going into a Reddit earlier. I really like this person's Reddit comment. Uh. PC. 1995 to 2000s. Uh. Kids adventure game about saving your fellow sentient car. When I was younger, I played a PC games. I believe it was point and click adventure. Not sure. The premise was that the characters were sentient cartoonish cars, possibly toys. Uh. Uh.

[00:52:48] And your friend was broken down, about to be scrapped. So you had to go around and collect new tires tools. Uh. And then. Oh, and he's. He put the song lyrics in. He memorized the song. Uh. I want to see if he talks about. Oh. Uh. These games have been burned into my brain for my entire life because of how horrified I was of the idea of helplessly waiting around to be scrapped with the sadistic toe

[00:53:16] truck just waiting for you and looking forward to killing you. That's amazing what the game is. This game is just. Why? Why did this game trauma? I think that's why like the game felt like why the toe truck felt scary because literally he was just waiting to fucking kill and murder your friend. Um. I remember whenever I would play this game because the toe truck was in the, um, the opening cutscene. I would always like mash through the cutscene just to not see it. Oh my God.

[00:53:46] Um. And I love how the comments are like, oh my God, I remember this game. And people are like, I remember this. The toe truck scared me so much. Like, oh, I just love like this guy really did summon up the best. Like it is a very scary concept of like this truck is just out to kill your best friend because he got into an accident. Like Jesus. I love it.

[00:54:16] What a, what a, what an adventure. What an adventure. Yeah. Um. Yeah. If you want to buy this game, it's $5 on eBay. You can't play it. Uh. Well, I don't think it's ever going to get the putt putt treatment and get, uh, I doubt they even have the files for this anymore. Like I doubt. You can find. I found, I found the ROM online. You can find it online very easily. Really? Yeah. I tried to get it to work, but it wasn't working because, uh, Windows 10. Oh.

[00:54:45] And I didn't want to mess around with it enough to get it working. I didn't care that much. Yeah. Yeah. This, this is like one of the true, like childhood games that we had that this is like up there with childhood trauma. You know what? This game reminds me of that weird, like Barbie, like not, not detective Barbie. That's a masterpiece. The one where it was like you were in the ocean and there was that weird, like diver would just follow Barbie around. I don't remember.

[00:55:15] You don't remember this one. I have to find it. Cause you played this game constantly. Was this a mermaid one? No, Barbie was just diving like in the ocean looking for like Atlantis or something. Oh, maybe I feel like that had mermaids in it. There might've been mermaids and if a Barbie wasn't a mermaid. I need to know that. Was it a PC game? Oh yeah. Like pretty much all the Barbie games you played for PC. Um, the diver game. Ocean.

[00:55:46] PC. Adventures of Barbie. Ocean discovery. Let me take a look. Uh, why is it? Yep. This is it. This is exactly it. You used to play this game. Looks like a fucking, uh, Freddy fish ripoff. Um, wait, actually, you used to play this constantly. Oh my God. I loved this game.

[00:56:16] You know, it was weird though. Like the. I think there was a mystery element. I think it was kind of Barbie. There was because there's a, the twist at the end, but I always remember it because like the opening cut scene is really dark for no reason. Cause it's literally about the city getting sunk. Um, but then like also like the, there's like this evil, like diver who's like trying to find it before Barbie. Wait, wait, let's save this and use this as another game that shaped us. Okay. Well, we have to. Cause I need to rewatch this. Yeah.

[00:56:46] I need to rewatch. We need to do detective Barbie at some point. We should combine this with like another, we should do this in another one as a game that shaped us, but not. Detective Barbie could be on its own. Yeah. We could do this with another one, but I need to rewatch this. Oh my God. I wrote like. That popped into my head when I was thinking about this game. I was left my brain and like, now it's back. I think we could talk about the genie one, the genie bottle one with this one. Oh yeah.

[00:57:15] That came with that stupid genie bottle. All right. Your next game that shaped us. Get ready for Barbie. We'll do a proper Barbie games episode. Cause I'm pretty sure our first one was pretty half-assed. Yeah. A lot of ours. Well, but, uh, yeah, so that was big. Bill wants to end the podcast early because he doesn't like talking to me anymore.

[00:57:45] He's going to replace me. Hey, you think that off the screen right now? Everyone can see it now because this one you're allowed to post the video of cause I don't look hideous. Well, I still do, but just not as hideous. Oh, that was good. Was that supposed to be the clown music and you just put the wrong one? No. I was trying to pick something. Someone just added you. Someone just added you.

[00:58:16] Cool. On discord. I need to know who was it? I think it was, uh, I think it was Josh. I, well, or it was in his server. Hi Josh. Oh, it wasn't Josh's server. What did I get added for? I don't know. I just saw that you're at. Oh, hi Josh. I'll look at that later. You can come back once you determine, once you agree that the Jaguar is better than the N64.

[00:58:45] You're welcome back after that. Uh, until I get a public apology. You're banned. No, he's not. No, he's not. Aka, and I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. I like the Atari Jaguar the best. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what's going on in there. Oh! When I posted that meet, I had sent it to you earlier, but I posted in the server.

[00:59:11] Uh, that's how I felt during the episode with, um, wasn't that, uh, that was the Ghibli episode. Yeah. The episode we did with Rick, where like Rick, we're introducing Rick and then you just start laughing uncontrollably about something stupid. Like, that's the thing is like, I related so much to that game cause that's exactly how I felt. Like it was like 30 minutes into the podcast. I couldn't stop fucking laughing. Yeah.

[00:59:38] That always, that is like such a sad thing cause that was the first time we met Rick in person. Oh, over a call. And then his first impression of us is Alex just dying laughing about nothing for five minutes. I felt so bad, but I couldn't stop laughing. It's hilarious how one of our most heartfelt episodes we've done starts with that. And I think it ends with us being fucking jerks, not jerks, but just me being a twerp.

[01:00:07] I think that's what it ends with. Probably. As most of our episodes do. We were still getting used to do. That was one of our earliest, um, guest episodes. I want to say. Yeah. It was up there. We did an animal crossing one. At that point in terms of guest episodes, we had done the Sims, the one with the first one with Jerry, um, animal crossing the round table. Rune scape with Knave. Uh, we had Dave on for Game Boy Advance.

[01:00:37] Mm-hmm. Uh, Stardew Valley and then the Ghibli one. Oh, and then Matt and, uh, Snickerman the previous season for, uh, Snickerman! Yes. Uh, but, uh, yeah, that was big action garage. That was literally child trauma. And honestly, after reading that guy's review of the game, it was traumatic. It was an interesting case study. Killer tow trucks.

[01:01:04] It was an interesting case study though on how like the Mandela effect and how childhood trauma is so weird. Like a weird concept. Or just how things like appear so scary when you're younger. When you're young and innocent before you get exposed to the real world. You get older and you see things like Akira or just a lot of horror movies that are now. Or just something like fucking incidents in the world. Like car crash. Like you just see traumatic stuff now. And it's just. You go on Reddit and you accidentally see gore and you go, oh no.

[01:01:34] Yeah. My child drain. Um, yeah. But anyways, guys, once again, thank you for joining us on gaming collecting. Uh, you can find the gaming and collecting podcast on all the major podcasting platforms, particularly Apple podcast and Spotify. And be sure to check us out. Spotify. Good for you. Um, and be sure to check us out over on the super pod network.

[01:01:59] That is superpodnetwork.com and awesome site featuring a whole bunch of awesome shows, videos, blogs. Are you going to read them all? No, I don't do that anymore. Cause at this point I think we've, we've gotten it across. There's a, if people want to know, they can go to the thing. There's awesome people there though. Everyone there is great. We're all. We're on there. And we're not great. No, I'm just kidding. We suck. We're something. All right.

[01:02:27] Um, but yeah, boys, just kidding. I saw a recording and like the thing I'm recording in like, wait, wait, can you, can you send me the link? And I just pop on and go, Matt, where's my fucking list? Um, wait, can you actually please? Maybe I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll text you. I'll text you when, and then I'll let you pop.

[01:02:56] Well, cause we'll do the intro. I don't want you to just pop in like randomly when we're in the middle of something. Okay. Okay. All right. But anyways, guys, once again, Matt's Matt's going to listen to this episode, like weeks from now, a couple of weeks from now, he'll be like that son of a bitch. Um, but anyways, guys, once again, thank you for joining us and we will see you all later. So, let's see you later.