That Time the Cartoon Network Threatened to Sue Me Over Laser-Cut Cardboard
Yes, I made a cardboard cutout of a Mooninite with my (non-quad) laser. It was supposed to amaze ya. It didn't amaze Turner Broadcasting.
March 18th, 2021: I received some rather disturbing news; the Cartoon Network had taken issue with a cardboard cutout of Ignignokt, the leader of the Mooninites, which I cut out on my (non-quad) laser. This… 8-bit space gang(?)1 comes from the Moon and caries a lot of clout. So much clout, in fact, that the Adult Swim portion of Cartoon Network decided to assert their intellectual property rights, threatening — on cable TV no less — to SUE ME via the services of one SpideyAtLaw.
I didn’t see it when it was originally broadcast, but, as shown below, it starts out with a nice shout-out of my work. Then it takes on a more ominous tone:
This might seem unnecessarily harsh — from a network known for children’s and/or nonsensical/child-inappropriate content after a certain time at night — but keep in mind that this was early 2021, and the world was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. People, and even cartoon networks, were still a little on edge.
Reactions varied from concerned, to impressed, to indifferent when I proudly shared this accomplishment. However, neither SpideyAtLaw, nor any Cartoon Network legal henchmen ever got in touch with me.
Perhaps the statue of limitations will run out soon. Or…
…would have if I hadn’t just posted a picture of Ignignokt, beautifully spray-painted on top of my office whiteboard. My contact info is at the end of this post if you’re with Cartoon Network and just haven’t gotten around to figuring out how to get in touch.
Also, 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic
While I meant no difficulties, perhaps it’s also relevant, or at least interesting, that this isn’t the first time that Ignignokt and/or Err (the other Mooninite character) were involved in legal hot water. Per Wikipedia:
On the morning of January 31, 2007, the Boston Police Department and the Boston Fire Department mistakenly identified battery-powered LED placards depicting the Mooninites, characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), leading to a massive panic. Placed throughout Boston, Massachusetts, and the surrounding cities of Cambridge and Somerville by Peter “Zebbler” Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, these devices were part of a nationwide guerrilla marketing advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.
Yes, people thought that these LED signs were some sort of explosive devices. And yes, the title of the movie was Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.
Given Mr. ‘Nokt’s rude gesture, and the black tube on the bottom, one can perhaps sympathize with the reaction. Per Wikipedia, Turner Broadcasting (i.e. then-owner of The Cartoon Network) and marketing organization Interference had to pay a total of $2 million dollars to compensate the Boston Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security for their efforts.
That’s a lot of money, especially considering the movie’s budget was $750,000. Film costs included paying for some rather impressive voice talent, like Tina Fey, Fred Armisen, and H. Jon Benjamin2. I actually did see it in the theater, though IIRC we mostly had the showing to ourselves.
Why this story?
#1 — It’s April fool’s day… and even though it is true that my work was featured/threatened on Adult Swim, the whole thing is a bit farcical and entertaining. I’m 99% sure they never intended to sue me. I’m only 60% sure SpideyAtLaw is an actual lawyer, and that entity’s tweets are now obscured from public view.
#2 — Sometimes it crosses my mind how cool it was that my work was seen on Adult Swim, but then I have a hard time finding it on Twitter/X. This should make it easier for me to say, “Hey there it is.”
#3 — If you’re impressed with someone who had his work… featured/threatened on cable TV, I’d encourage you to subscribe to this newsletter👇 Or subscribe even harder, share, or even leave a comment if you’re already receiving the Tech Adjacent e-rag.
Thanks for reading. We will return to your regularly scheduled Tech Adjacent programming next week. -JC
Sharing is caring! Rhymes, but is it correct? Not if it’s mold. Unless it’s a mold for something cool, like tiny toy soldiers.
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Addendum/Footnotes:
My promised contact info: hi@jeremyscook.com, (813) 421-0852, or reply back to this email.
2025 April Fool’s post:
On the subject of video games, the last FPS game that I put any time on was Counterstrike, well over a decade ago, along with the occasional game of Quake Arena after that (before I got a Macintosh and was thus not able to play it, even though it was formerly playable on a browser in Linux, PC, and I assume Macintosh as well. It was a fun little distraction, but I guess they wanted their $2.99 or whatever to get the license and didn’t bother porting it to MacOS). There’s also a browser version of Q3 here that I just heard about if you need a distraction.
Anyway… I was at Costco, staring at what must have been a 90+ inch TV, when Call of Duty (maybe; some sort of FPS) came on and I really couldn’t tell if it was a video game or a movie. I literally asked the guy there in the computer section if that was what video games look like now, thoroughly embarrassing myself.
I’m really turning into a geezer I guess. Sure, it was incredible when the PS2 came out, and you couldn’t always, immediately, tell that someone was playing a simulated video game, but that was on a ~20 inch TV. If you were lucky.
But I digress. Which is kind of my thing in the footnotes. Hi Jason.
Archer wasn’t yet a thing, so H. wasn’t so famous.