Peter Von Brown: I'm Still a Test Subject

Way back on February 25 2010, I said I might eventually get around to giving some other reasons I love the cartoon series Johnny Test.

The truth is... I still can't get enough of him. I often have little Jonathan Test as the wallpaper on my computer and my phone. I look forward to Mondays because that [currently] means another episode/segment. My TiVo still faithfully records them and every so often I'll watch a episode I haven't seen in a while. Just the other day I realized that there is only ONE episode where Johnny isn't wearing his blue overshirt* for a large chunk of the story... and that doesn't include when he's dressed otherwise. [i.e. in the episode the rest of his standard outfit is intact sans the blue shirt.]

*perhaps it's a jacket, but I think of it as an overshirt since I tend to wear shirts like that myself

ANYWAY...

Some of my not getting back to it on here is due to forgetfulness, some of it chalks up to laziness and a smaller chunk of it seems to be that I must have been particularly "hopped up" on Johnny that day, since I've come to realize that my other reasons aren't really all that interesting. But, I'll state them now just to get it over with...

I bet you could see this one coming... in some ways he's like Peter Pan. Johnny Test falls under the heading of the 'puer' mythos. (That's really just Latin for boy.) He's a boy hero who gets himself tangled up into all sorts of adventures which often turn dangerous or deadly and in most cases they are by his own doing. Besides diving headfirst into recklessness, Johnny, like Pan, can be insentitive to others' feelings. He's in it for himself, and to hell with everybody else. But don't be fooled by either of them. Given the right circumstance, Johnny and Pan will care. (If you need a Pan example, why else would he bring Wendy with him for the Lost Boys? [Yes, sure, okay, it had been for himself, too. But even so, there's a part of Pan that will do the right thing when it comes down to it - such as saving Michael Darling from the sharks to appease Wendy... or how about saving Wendy and the boys from Hook?]) Likewise, Johnny will not stand for others mistreating his sisters, even if he himself does it. You'll also find him being nice on purpose from time to time. I suppose I just like the "semi-heartless boy" idea. And as Dukey (Test's talking dog) says in an episode [wherein Johnny's "bad" self is extracted from him and accidentally runs amok and "good" Johnny is utterly, annoyingly sweet]: AIH! I don't like Good Johnny. I'm not crazy about a totally Bad Johnny. But a caring yet mischievious Johnny is what I love.

(And yes, I slapped together the "Johnny Pan" pic.)

Another reason is his hair. Yes, really, his hair. Over and over on the show he's referred to (even in front of him or to him) as the "flame headed boy" (or some variant thereof). I like characters aflame, it seems. I used to draw little wisps of flame with feet. And in What If It's a Trick Question? Jeremy's favorite video game features an imp with flames for hair. Now, granted, Johnny's hair isn't moving like fire. But the idea is there, and that appeals to me.