Where Did THAT Come From – Basketball Court and Wholesome & Sons Publishing

Faster than an event speeding donut spender! More powerful than a local Addict! Able to leap long comment threads in a single bound! Look! Up in the TSTO-niverse! It’s a building! It’s a decoration! It’s Superheroes 2016!

In our silly lil game, we sometimes see things pop in that we have no clue as to their Origin. They seem familiar, but we just can’t pinpoint from where. So that is why we decided to make a fun lil reminder out of it. To let you know just Where did THAT Come From?

So unless you’ve been locked away in Lucite, by now you probably realize a new event has splashed all over the screens of our beloved game. Lots of new stuff and that means I have one heck of a job to do letting you know where all the new “super” things come from. Origin stories are sort of the bread and butter of any comic book story worth its proverbial weight in Booster Gold, so I’m back at my usual antics again. For this issue of WDTCF, we’ll be looking at premium items from the event…

Basketball Court – 60 donuts
Wholesome & Sons Publishing – 80 donuts

First up, let’s find the basketball court in “Treehouse of Horror XXII” (S23:E3). In the “In the Na’vi” segment, one of my favorites I actually wrote about once, the plot is a parody of James Cameron’s Avatar. Instead of Unobtanium, the planet is being ravaged for Hilarium so Krusty can entertain his Nazi audience. Pandora is changed to Rigel 7. We see the jet which comes up when you tap the basketball court right in the beginning.

The reason it floats up from a basketball court is an homage to the X-Men. Seeing the X-jet rise from its hidden location at Xavier’s School for Gifted Children is just one of those things comic nerds like me get used to. Whether in a panel, animated, or on the big screen… I like it a lot. Neat to have them take something from the show and make it fit in with comic book lore.

If you look at the top of these pics, you can see where the roof would split.

Next up, Wholesome & Sons Publishing in “Dark Knight Court” (S24:E16). I guess it should come as no surprise that the episode which brought us Fruitbat Man would also later include items from a Superhero Sequel. Springfield is celebrating Easter and after someone stuffs eggs in the brass section of the elementary band which then pelts the townsfolk, a mob gathers to chase down the assumed culprit… one Bart Simpson. As the mob chases him, Burns and Smithers are shoved into none other than the Android’s Dungeon.

“Good Lord. Look at all these comical booklets.”

I’ve said this a time or two in my favorite nerd dens lol. Burns recounts when he used to collect comics (aka “bestapled fables”) as a youth. One of them was The Good Shepherd and his sidekick, the Fleecy Kid.

Burns dad would rather have his son outside kicking dogs, so he buys the publishing company and burns it to the ground.

Strapper1963  asked why the sound effect is “Why did you have to lock us in?” and if it was a reference to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire? While I applaud the knowledge of American History, it’s from the episode. While Burns and his dad watch the building burn, one of the people inside says that exact line. Burns cries at the memory.

Burns buys all of Comic Book Guy’s comics. They cost “the speed of light expressed in dollars.” Smithers writes a check for Farraday’s constant… 94, 685 dollars and 34 cents. Definitely look up the joke. It’s smart and funny. I just wish I had that kind of scrab cash to buy up a comic book store. I’d never leave my house and just read funny books all day.  It’s too bad that Monty takes the lot home, “get(s) a whiff of the immigrant from these new fangled superheroes” and burns them (now his name makes more sense I guess). I suppose it’s not a complete travesty considering he read one of the comics (Detection Comics… a pun on the original name of the books Batman arrived in) and was inspired to become a superhero. He IS a reclusive millionaire with stately mansion and a damaged psyche. Makes sense to me.

So the moral is that Burns might have become a better person if his dad had only let him read the funny books. Instead, we get him as a decrepit Batman lookalike. What do you think of the new decoration and building? Do you like the X-men, Batman, and/or anything else comic book-related? Did you know these origins? Ever hear of the Shirtwaist Fire? Sound off in the comments and stay batty, err, classy.

TTFN… Wookiee out!