The story behind the quote: The quote comes from Bugs Bunny, probably one of the most popular animated characters in the world. His popularity and the longevity of the character has made him the default mascot for Warner Bros animated project.
He may be clever enough to outwit red-haired cowboys, bald hunters with a speech impediment and even alien conquerors from the planet Mars. But Bugs Bunny sure has a bad sense of direction! Whenever he travels to far away locations, he burrows through the earth in a attempt to get to his destination. Unfortunately, he keeps on making the same wrong turn in New Mexico…
Geek wisdom: Have you ever gotten lost or gotten so turned around that you have no idea where you are? Or have you ever gone on a trip and then lost your way? The best thing to do in these situations is to just ask for directions. A lot of times, though, we don’t. We try to figure where we are by backtracking. While this may help out sometimes, we do waste a lot of time doing this.
There’s no shame in asking for help when you get lost. If you’re unsure, stop and ask for directions.
The story behind the quote: It’s actually hard to write Geek Wisdom using the Simpsons. Not because there aren’t a lot of quotable lines from the show. Rather, it’s because 20th Century Fox will usually take down a lot of video clips from the show! This is a quote that has been in the making since I started writing this blog but I’ve never really been able to find a good clip or even a picture of the quote… until now!
The quote became popularized in the Simpsons episode “Deep Space Homer” wherein Homer Simpson becomes an astronaut because of NASA’s attempt to bring an “ordinary” man into space for publicity. Unfortunately, Homer accidentally breaks the ant terrarium, causing the ants to float all around the shuttle.
During an interview with news anchorman Kent Brockman, one of the ants float very close to the camera. Kent then concludes that the ants have taken of the shuttle and will be conquering the planet Earth next… so he delivers the quote.
Since I’m pretty sure the clip will be taken out soon (even with the edit), I’ve decided to post a picture of the quote below.
Geek wisdom: A person’s character can only be tested during hard times. And it may actually be surprising how fast your friends and even your family members can turn on you when things start to go south. Your mettle will also be tested during those trying times and you yourself may be shocked how quickly you can betray your family and friends.
A true test of a person’s character is what he’ll do when the odds aren’t in his favor. Like Kent Brockman, he caved when he thought the human race was about to be enslaved. How will you react against those odds?
The story behind the quote: Most people nowadays have, at the least, a passing familiarity of the Transformers series. The cartoon has gone through various revisions and reiterations. But there are two things that have always remained fairly constant: The Autobots are led by the heroic Optimus Prime and Optimus Prime usually delivers the quote as a sort of battlecry before heading towards battle.
It doesn’t matter if the show has them transforming into vehicles, animals or other creatures/things, Optimus Prime will give this order when it’s time for the Autobots to charge into the battle to take on the evil Decepticons led by Megatron.
Geek wisdom: Change is always scary. Whether it’s trying something new or even getting feedback that you need to adjust something about yourself, the idea of change can be hard to swallow. However, sometimes, in order to move on, you have to be willing to transform yourself.
Change is not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just something you’re not used to. You never know if it’s good or bad until you at least try it out.
The story behind the quote: The quote comes from The Simpsons’ 7th Treehouse of Horror special. The Treehouse of Horror is the show’s annual Halloween television special where the show spoofs various films and television shows. As such, they don’t fall into the regular “continuity” of the show’s illustrious 25 years of being on the air. One of the mainstays of the Treehouse of Horror specials is the appearance of the aliens Kang and Kodos. While they do appear in the episodes, they mostly are relegated to the background.
However, the segment Citizen Kang, they’re actually the ones that push the story forward. The aliens replace Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and run for the presidency in their place. Even after Homer exposes the aliens’ plot, Kang gets elected as “it’s a two-party system.” While the human race is building a weapon for the aliens, Homer reveals who he voted for.
Geek wisdom: It’s easy to focus blame on someone else. It’s almost instinctive for a lot of people and it’s understandable. No one wants to be the cause or the one at fault for anything bad. But someone has “to take the blame” and most of us are fine as long as it’s not them!
However, this is the wrong way of thinking. We have to own up to our mistakes when we commit them. That’s the only way we’ll learn from them. If we steer blame away from ourselves, the only thing we learn is how to avoid taking responsibility.
The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the animated series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. It was one of, if not, the first cartoon to feature an environmental superhero. Captain Planet himself is not a person in the traditional sense. He is actually the personification of the four natural elements, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, as well as the power of caring, which is Heart.
These elements are carried by the Planeteers, four teenagers from different parts of the world. Kwame, from Africa, controls Earth. Linka, from the Soviet Union/Eastern Europe, controls the element of Wind. Wheeler, from the United States, is in charge of the Fire element. Gi, from Asia, manipulates Water. And Ma-Ti, from Brazil, controls Heart. In order to summon Earth’s greatest champion, Kwame, Linka, Wheeler, Gi and Ma-Ti have to combine all of the elements. These elements then form Captain Planet.
Captain Planet usually dispatches the villain for the week and, before splitting up into the elements, he usually tells the Planeteers the quote.
Geek wisdom: The power is indeed yours! We all have the power to make good and bad decisions. Claiming that we weren’t given any options is simply a cop out and shrugging off our our responsibilities of our actions. It is us who decides our fate and how much effort we put into a task and no one else.
The story behind the quote: Now, this is a quote that is fairly recent and wasn’t even given by any of the main characters of the show. In fact, the person who delivers this quote doesn’t even have an official name as far as I know. However, he does say it a lot and I realized there is some wisdom you can get from those two simple words of despair he exclaims often.
The quote comes from Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series tells the story of Aang, the latest Avatar of the world and destined to bring peace and order to it. However, since he is just a child, he runs away because of the pressure of the role and gets encased in ice for a hundred years. That is, until two children from the Water Tribes, siblings Katara and Sokka, release him from his icy tomb. The two help Aang try to fulfill his destiny of mastering bending of all four elements (water, earth, fire and air) while being pursued by the exiled prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko.
Like I said, the quote comes not from any of those characters that I mentioned but from a man simply known as The Cabbage Merchant. He pops in a lot of episodes, trying to sell and trade his produce by something always happens to them, which is why he always delivers the quote out of anguish.
Geek wisdom: Life can be full of misfortune and disappointment. This is displayed very prominently by the cabbage guy from the show as it seems to be whenever he encounters Aang and company, his harvested cabbages get devastated. However, it’s how you persist after these hardships that prove yourself as a person.
While the first series never really showed what happened to the cabbage merchant, the sequel to the series, The Legend of Korra shows that the cabbage vendor created his own company and his son is now prosperous because of it. If he didn’t pick himself up after all of the hardship he went through, the cabbage vendor wouldn’t have been able to build a successful company.
The story behind the quote: The song comes from the one of the most popular cartoons from the late 80’s, Disney’s Duck Tales. While we were generally familiar with Donald Duck and his animated shorts, Disney decided to put out new 30 minute adventures instead, with more complex storylines as well as more action. During the first episode, it’s explained that Donald will be out sea for an extended period of time (he’s a sailor, remember?) so he will not be able to take care of his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. He leaves them in the care of Scrooge McDuck, his uncle and who also happens to be the richest duck in the world.
They all go on fantastic adventures around the world to find new treasures to increase Uncle Scrooge’s wealth. They come across new new friends like Launchpad McQuack, “ace” pilot and come in contact with new memorable foes such as Flintheart Glomgold, the second richest duck in the world who always schemes to eventually surpass Uncle Scrooge in wealth.
The quote, as you all probably know, comes from the extremely catchy theme song of the show, which you can hear below.
Geek wisdom: Life can be hard and unpredictable. It will throw various challenges and difficulties at you during the most unexpected times. The best thing to do is to take on these challenges as they come rather than just complain about them and do nothing about it.
Besides, when you do tackle them and succeed in overcoming your problems, like Uncle Scrooge and his friends, you’ll have your own fantastic tales to tell later!
The story behind the quote: Fullmetal Alchemist is an extremely popular manga and anime set in an alternate timeline where people still use alchemy instead of modern chemistry. According to the series, alchemy evolved into the practice of transmuting basic components into various items. For example, if you collect the broken parts of a radio, you wouldn’t need to send it to a repairman; using alchemy, you can simply use these parts to rebuild the radio. As long as the elements are in the right amounts, you can theoretically anything.
By the way, MINOR SPOILERS…
The main characters of the series are the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse. They are in search for the legendary Philosopher’s Stone because of a disastrous accident they caused. When their mother died, they decided to try to revive their mother through alchemy (which is forbidden). They managed to get the necessary elements to supposedly resurrect her but there was a reason why it’s strictly forbidden to perform alchemy on a human.
While all of the necessary earthly elements and materials are all there, it does not include the spiritual soul that is still lacking. Because of this, Edward lost his right arm and left leg and Alphonse’s spirit is trapped in a suit of armor. The brothers believe that the Philosopher’s Stone, which will enable an alchemist to bypass the need for the elements to be exact. But they’re not doing to to try to resurrect their mother anymore. They’re doing it to restore their bodies.
The quote comes from the English version of the anime, which you can see below.
Geek wisdom: In order to get something really difficult to obtain, we must be ready to put the necessary work into getting it. Sure, there are going to be those lucky that beat the odds without any real effort, but we really shouldn’t bank on it happening to us. That’s why not everyone is rich. Think of the people that are highly successful and, most of the time, they will tell you that they had to work hard for what they have. The problem is that we usually just see the end result of all their hard work and assume they had it easy all the time.
Anything and everything you want to achieve can be achieved most of the time. The only thing is that you have to be willing to put in the backbreaking work to make it all the way to your goal.
The story behind the quote: The Super Friends cartoon starred DC Comics’ most popular heroes, including Superman and Batman among others. Apparently, they didn’t think that it was enough to have Earth’s mightiest heroes in a cartoon so the producers of the show decided to add the Wonder Twins… who were created specifically for the show. Oh, and they have a space monkey.
The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, are alien twins who do not have any special abilities by themselves. However, by coming into contact with each other (or having something connect them together… like using Gleek, their aforementioned space monkey), they can actually change into any shape. Zan, the male, has the ability to change into anything made of water. Jayna, on the other hand can change to any animal (even a dinosaur).
Geek wisdom: Teamwork is extremely important. The Wonder Twins themselves cannot use their shapeshifting powers unless they come into contact with each other. People are generally the same thing. While we can feel utterly helpless as individuals, we can actually perform great things if we work together.
Even when we are a part of a team, we can still feel useless and not contribute to the group’s success. While Gleek’s only ability is to lengthen his tail, he is able to help the Wonder Twins by acting as a conduit for them to use their powers. This goes with us; while our contribution is only going to be minimal, it doesn’t mean that the contribution is not meaningful. As the old saying goes: Every little bit helps.
The story behind the quote: The original Dragon Ball series was about a young Son Goku and his friends in search for the legendary Dragon Balls. Their search for these magical items is more than just a treasure hunt. The reason is, if all 9 Dragon Balls are gathered, they will summon Shen Lon, a mystical dragon that will be able to grant any wish, even reviving someone from the dead.
However, with Dragon Ball Z, that all changed. While the characters still searched for them, the Dragon Balls actually took a backseat to all of the fighting. Here, Son Goku is now an adult and his actual origins are explored more deeply. During the first story arc (the Saiyan Saga), it is explained that the reason why Goku is an extremely powerful fighter is because he is actually an alien from the planet Vegeta and he was actually supposed to conquer the planet (but bumped his head and forgot).
Now, the prince of Goku’s home planet, who also happens to be named Vegeta, goes to planet Earth and tries to rule over it. Goku steps in to defend the Earth. While Vegeta was originally unimpressed with Goku as his scouter, a device that measures fighting ability, shows that Goku isn’t that impressive.
However, that all changes when Goku powers up…
Geek wisdom: We can easily underestimate people. It’s easy to see someone who did not have any formal education and dismiss that person as a failure. We tend to forget that there are a lot of successful college dropouts, like Bill Gates and the guy who developed Facebook.
What a person can or cannot is something anyone can measure. Everyone has the potential to do great things so it’s a pretty dumb idea to count them out just because of the way they look.
My Geek Wisdom 