Sure, there were Rambo: The Force of Freedom, Police Academy and RoboCop cartoons and toys, but the fact that The Toxic Avenger got his own cartoon and toy still blows my mind. In the seven years since the movie was made, Melvin Junko went from smashing faces with gym equipment to saving Tromaville from the evil Smogulans, led by Czar Zosta and Dr. Killemoff. Now he has friends like Nozone, Major Disaster, Headbanger and Junkyard.

What’s even more surprising is that Michael J. Pollard is in this as the voice of Psycho and that the pilot was written by future sitcom master Chuck Lorre.

Yes, I had many of the Playmates toys, which had a great tagline: “They’re gross, but they still get girls!”

Troma head Lloyd Kaufman believed that he was getting to make a live-action version of the cartoon with New Line, only to learn that they were using the new property as leverage to get a better deal from Eastman and Laird for the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. He got some money out of it, at least.

There are 13 episodes of this show, and in none of them does someone yell, “I never did me no blind bitch before.” But you know, you have to tone things down when you make a cartoon, I guess.

My big question? Where was Sgt. Kabukiman in this series?

The Troma Blu-ray release of the entire series includes a new introduction from Kaufman, toy commercials, a documentary about the new video game, archival footage of the Toxic Avenger and bonus cartoons. You can get it from MVD.