N. Harmonik’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Oggy and the Cockroaches Episodes

Success! I, N. Harmonik, have managed to hack into Jyger’s Rant! I mean, I’ve decided to give my dear friend a break and try my hand at reviewing and stuff. And what better way to start than by typing about my currently most-adored franchise, Oggy and the Cockroaches!

Created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud (may he rest in peace) in 1998, this slapstickery cartoon is about a cat, the titular Oggy, and his dealings with three cockroaches, Dee Dee, Marky and Joey, who live in his house. When these ornery insects aren’t stealing Oggy’s food or some other object that he covets, they’re pranking him just for fun, usually with explosives. Oggy is sometimes helped by his cousin, Jack, although more often than not, his aid and bad temper just make the situation worse. Often, their antics will end up hurting and angering Oggy’s neighbour, a dog named Bob, who will then pound them (mostly the cats) into pulp. A late addition to the cast is Olivia, a sweet cat friendly to everyone (even the roaches) and Oggy’s love interest.

As you can see, this is a spiritual successor to Tom and Jerry. Unlike Tom and Jerry though, wherein every character except the cat and the mouse can talk, no coherent words are ever spoken and written words are kept to the barest minimum. Rarely, they’ll sing public domain songs (notably “A Night at the Opera” in which the opera “Carmen” is performed) but all communication is done through gestures and gibberish. Because there is no need for dubbing, the show is able to reach a wide audience, airing in at least 150 countries at the time of writing this. The cartoon’s success has spawned clothing, accessories, dolls, comic books, magazines, board games, video games, a music album, a radio drama and even a movie!

Allow me to tell you of my 5 favourite episodes in order of airdate. Naturally, there’ll be spoilers.

#1 – Granny’s Day

Oggy’s grandmother comes over to his house to celebrate her birthday. First the audience thinks the episode will be about the cockroaches driving her up the wall…until she pummels and captures Joey and Marky. Next the audience thinks the episode will be about how the remaining roach, Dee Dee, will endeavour to rescue his buddies/brothers…until he uncovers strong evidence that they’re dead. This causes Dee Dee to collapse into a sobbing mess, much to granny’s surprise, as if she had always assumed cockroaches were heartless. When she takes a look at her captive insects, they hand her a photo album showing them having a great time from babyhood to present day. And thus, granny is touched and realizes that Joey, Marky and Dee Dee may be awful to her grandson but they’re a family through thick and thin to each other. She not only releases Marky and Joey but the three bugs go with her back to her place for a while!

#2 – Love and Kisses

Oggy’s sister, Monica, visits and Jack is instantly smitten by her, thanks in no small part to her mistakenly kissing him. Noticing that she likes sports (the more extreme, the better), Jack strives to impress her in that department. Naturally, he stinks at all the events, even without the cockroaches (whom he had infuriated earlier) messing him up. Yet throughout, he never gives up so by the end of the episode, Monica finds his efforts cute and gives Jack her number before leaving. Unsurprisingly and amusingly, Jack celebrates the only way he knows how: loud as possible!

…Yes, Jack and Monica are cousins. I don’t know, maybe cousin-on-cousin isn’t considered incest in France where the show was made. Regardless, their relationship is strangely rather adorable. A pity it won’t last…

#3 – Ugly, Dirty and Good

Have I ever stated that I’m a sucker for the old good-guy-gets-amnesia-and-gets-tricked-into-becoming- a-bad-guy shtick? Well, in this episode’s case, the inversion occurs!

After falling on his head during the usual raid on the fridge, Joey not only mentally regresses into a child and forgets who Marky and Dee Dee are but also becomes convinced that Oggy is his father! Said feline cannot bring himself to harm him after an affectionate display of adoration so he adopts the bug. Oggy even makes a blue, furry suit for Joey to wear so he’ll look like him! Throughout the episode, Oggy and Joey partake in several endearing father-and-son activities while the other two roaches do their best to land a blow on their former leader’s head in order to get him back. Ultimately, Joey gives himself a concussion that snaps him out of it. He bites Oggy while returning to his brothers’ welcoming arms yet later is seen to beam at Oggy fondly…then he promptly slaps Dee Dee and Marky when he notices them snickering at him.

#4 – Back to the Past! (Featuring Olivia)

The roaches destroy a witch’s hat by accident (for once) and pin the blame on Oggy, Jack and Bob. As punishment, the witch transforms the cats and dog into children, leaving Olivia to look after them. Olivia soon finds herself at wit’s end taking care of the cute but hyperactive rascals so she drags Joey off with her to locate and confess to the witch and makes babysitters out of Marky and Dee Dee. Meanwhile, the men are having a delightful time being boys again; pillow fighting, playing with their food and roughhousing while being as messy as they can. The one exception is school where they have to deal with bullies and human kids who think they’re dolls. In the end, the witch turns Bob, Jack and Oggy back into adults then, at Olivia’s request, changes Joey, Marky and Dee Dee into kids! The cutie pies are then given to the guys by Olivia to care for until the spell’s undone. And Oggy himself is likely going to need the practice…

#5 – Oggy is Getting Married! (Featuring Olivia)

The cats and cockroaches take a trip to Venice, Italy. Oggy reveals to Jack that he intends to propose to Olivia while Joey reveals to Dee Dee and Marky that he intends to pilfer his engagement ring to propose to Lady K, a conniving female roach living in Olivia’s house. In typical cartoony fashion, Oggy’s first attempted proposal fails; luckily, so does Joey’s first attempted theft. Oggy becomes jealously suspicious when he espies Olivia conversing with a male, grown-up human then hiding later when aforementioned human passes by. One awkward kidnapping later (with Jack as an all-too-willing accomplice), she reveals that he is a painter with whom she was transacting. With that matter mostly cleared up, Oggy pops the question and Olivia gleefully accepts…only for the roaches to swipe the ring. What follows is a madcap pursuit through the canals and roads that ultimately reduces the city to rubble. Oh well, at least they got the ring back. Later back home, it is shown that Olivia had commissioned the artist (revealed to be named after creator Jean-Yves Raimbaud) to do a portrait of her sweetheart-and-now-husband, Oggy.

Yes, you read that last part right, folks; a slapstickery cartoon actually defied the status quo of its genre and had two of its main characters tie the knot! This is the last episode produced so far yet chances are good that another season will be produced. I just hope it doesn’t take a few years again…

Those are my 5 favourite episodes and you probably noticed a theme connecting them all: love. And I hear you asking, “Why?” The thing is, I actually can’t stand franchises that are almost completely about love; I greatly prefer stories that have lots of action. Because love doesn’t come up often in this series, it seems much sweeter and cuter! Perhaps that’s why I like this franchise…

But just in case, here’s a list of more of my favourite episodes that aren’t as, ahem, lovely if you know what I mean: A Night at the Opera, The Ghost Hunter, Working Cat, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Oggy’s Double, Roachy Redneck, Inspector Dee Dee, Priceless Roaches, Let’s Party Guys, Metamorphosis, The Dictator, For Real, What a Lousy Day and From Mumbai with Love (Featuring Olivia).

So, leave any comments you might have below, and I’ll see you later…maybe. Kawoom!

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…-r my 400th blog post!… … …What the hell just happened? o.O

Related articles

• Oggy and the Cockroaches (en.wikipedia.org)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches part 1 (forfourfingers.wordpress.com)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches Wiki (oggyandthecockroaches.wikia.com)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches Facebook Fanpage (www.facebook.com/Oggy.fanpage)

Infinite DC – A Look At The Costume Ensembles (WARNING – SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTING AND SPOILERS AHEAD)

Real quick, before I start, I haven’t forgotten to do What I Got For Christmas. It’s just that, among the gift cards I got, two of them are for Heroes’ Beacon, so I decided to just wait until I get my week’s comics and include them, instead of doing a separate What I Bought Today. With that outta the way, let’s engage in some shameless self-promoting, shall we? For those who have been following along with my Infinite DC fanfiction line, you know that I’ve been making a number of ensembles for the characters. Basically, I’ve been taking bits and pieces of costumes worn by the characters in various medias (comics, cartoons, movies, etc.), and putting them together to form their Infinite DC costumes. This is because Infinite DC takes place in my own alternate universe, separate from the 52 universes shown in DC Comics, but is influenced by many of them (and others) in terms of characters, stories, historical events, and so on. So, with that said, let’s take a look at some of the costumes I’ve put together thus far, starting with…

Infinite Superman

First shown in the fanfic ‘The Man of Tomorrow’, Superman’s costume is largely based on his more traditional tights. However, while they are the same design in terms of colour-scheme and where everything goes and fits together, the costume is actually made out of the more armour-like material seen in most of Superman’s more recent appearances. Reasoning is simple: Superman’s body is protected by his bio-electrical field, and he himself is mostly invulnerable, but there are ways around both. If he takes too much of a beating in a fight against opponents with strength comparable to his own, his solar energy reserves can deplete and the field can fail to protect him. Also, Superman has been shown to be vulnerable to some forms of attack in the past, namely from Kryptonite and magic. Considering the number of enemies he faces that have used this to their advantage, it makes sense that he’d want something that would protect him a bit more. But, I also understand why many still miss the classic design, so I decided to go ahead and please both.

Infinite Huntress

Originally, I just gave Huntress her Year One costume, but as of late, I decided to go with the costume she more commonly wore as a member of the Birds of Prey, since she’s, y’know, a member of the Birds of Prey in my fic. Also, as pointed out in said comics, she’s actually able to stretch herself out a bit more and is nimbler in said costume, and I kind of needed her to have that edge. I actually was almost breaking the fourth wall in the chapter where she makes it, as I really felt that, with the team in its current shape, Huntress needed that something extra to work with. The colour-scheme and mask, however, remain the same, as it creates a blend of the two, and honestly, I kinda found that, as time went on, Huntress’ BoP mask was drawn to be bigger and bigger until it just got ridiculous. lol Also, in a rare case of being inspired by a non-DC character, her crossbow and quiver actually use the same tech as shown with Hawkeye in the Avengers movie.

Infinite Batman

So, initially I had Batman wear his New 52 costume tinted dark blue instead of black. Since then, I’ve decided to give a slight retcon punch to that idea, instead giving him the Batman Noel costume, recoloured and given lens to resemble the Batman: TAS costume, his Bat symbol swapped out for the one in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and and wearing the utility belt seen on Injustice: Gods Among Us‘ Insurgency Batman. So, why the dark blue colouring? Well, originally, it was to show that Batman was lightening up from his lone wolf crusade, but I’ve since come up with a bit more functional-toned reason: Batman’s a ninja. Ninjas do NOT wear black, they were dark blue. Yeah, that threw me off too, but apparently, dark blue actually blends into the darkness even better than black. In other words, and I know this is gonna piss off a lot of people, but of the costumes that appeared in the Batman movies of the past 20+ years, the one that’s actually best suited for the darkness is George Clooney’s…Yeah. Scary.

Infinite Robin

Not much to say here. It’s the Young Justice Robin costume, except with Damian’s hood and Tim Drake‘s Robin symbol. Decided it was probably best to keep it simple with him. With that in mind, I have a question: Why is it that, in modern day, Dick Grayson is always shown to be wearing green leggings? ‘Cuz originally, that was not his thing. That was a Tim Drake thing. Instead, Tim Drake is now shown dressed in the red and black costume he wore after Superboy was killed…who is apparently dead again now…Comics can be weird sometimes. o.O

Infinite Batwoman

Again, not a lot to say about Batwoman’s costume. It’s mostly the same as the one seen in the comics, with one distinct difference: She’s now wearing a Batgirl-esque cowl (though it keeps the lens from the mask), with her wig poking out the back. This is done for a few reasons, though mainly it was due to my belief that someone like Katherine Kane would likely go for a cowl instead of a mask, since a face mask probably comes off a lot easier. Also, as I mentioned before, I made it so that her wig is rigged to a device in her cowl that sends a minor shock to anyone foolish enough to try and tug on her ‘hair’.

Infinite Wonder Woman

Finally, the pièce de résistance, Infinite Wonder Woman. This was actually the first real case of me mixing and matching various pieces of costumes together. As you can see, she has her hair in a ponytail (which she can crack like a whip), like in Justice League: War, she has the tiara with nose-guard from All-Star Batman and Robin (which has a psychic connection to her invisible jet and the replica tiara worn by Queen Hippolyta), she has a Gladiator-style skirt, and she has her Injustice boots, top, chest-plate, and bullet-proof bracers (which can be removed to allow her to use the full extent of her strength and speed). Of course, she also has the indestructible golden lasso that she uses to tie people up and/or make speak the truth, and she also occasionally wields a broadsword for when things get a bit too out of hand. And, in two chapters, she wore an enchanted helm over her tiara that covered the rest of her exposed skin (save for her face) with red leather armour, bronze shoulder and knee-guards, and a red cape. Y’know, just in case she needs a little something extra for when she’s going to war with the masses of the undead.

Anyway, there’s a few more, and at least a couple I have planned for the future, but let’s save them for another time. Leave your comments below on what you think of these costumes, and ideas for new ones. In the meanwhile, next up is my 400th blog post, and boy, do I have something special planned fo-

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…And he never suspected a thing. Kawoom!

Next Time: N. Harmonik’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Oggy and the Cockroaches Episodes

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