Tauntauns, Callbacks, And Cousins Vinny: COTD

Hoo boy, this is Comment of the Yesterday if you’re on the East Coast, but I’m in Texas, so I still have (glances at clock) fifteen minutes, so let’s goooo …

Anytime I get tapped for COTD, it’s a big stress-out for me because you guys and gals are very smart and funny and insightful, so choosing even a handful of comments, let alone a single comment, for of the Day accolades can paralyze me with indecision. Rest assured, I could have included much more of your wisdom and wisecracks here, but in the name of getting this COTD (and myself) to bed, I’m going with whatever most grabbed my inner nerd and/or tickled my funny bone (the humorous humerus, specifically).

First up, let me shout out Hoonicus and his comment in today’s Bruno Sacco-themed Gavel Gazing for reminding me that Mercedes cars once suffered wire insulation that would literally wither, being biodegradable at all, and even recalling that The Autopian has covered the frightening phenomena before (see the hyperlink I added below, or just click the graphic).

Hoonicus
Uhm 91-96 I believe, used that biodegradable wire insulation! It’s been mentioned on this very site before. They were far from the only manufacturer to be inflicted with that, my 2002 VW headlight wiring was BARE when I took it apart to see WTF.

Hoonicus is the most recent instance I’ve seen of a reader extracting a deep cut from the site, and I’m sure I speak for the entire gang when I say your collective attention and affection for The Autopian is deeply appreciated and will never be taken for granted.

Moving on to the funny stuff, Canopysaurus brought the lulz to the comment section of Merc’s Ranchero Holy Grail with some premium Pesci:

Canopysaurus
“The two utes …”

“Did you say utes?”

“Yeah, utes. You know, the two utes, Ranchero and El Camino?”

“Never heard of them.”

“What the f…, were you born in the 90s?”

It’s a My Cousin Vinny riff, and if you haven’t seen My Cousin Vinny, you really need to make time for MCV. It’s just solid family entertainment (the R rating is very soft) with some amusing car-related bits, and it’s the movie that got Marisa Tomei her Best Supporting Actress Oscar, weirdly. Where was I? Oh, right, if you missed MCV, the utes gag refers to this:

… And since you are now undoubtedly invested in the grits situation (or gritsuation), here’s a link to the rest of the scene.

Also from the Ranchero comments, I salute Jack Trade for his callback to a previous Autopian story, Torch’s Frogman, Frogboy Cold Start:

Jack Trade
Great write-up as always Mercedes. I have a Matchbox version (2nd gen I think) and it always makes me want to learn more about them, so thank you!

I’m veering into Torch-lane, but I’ll say this is perhaps, for once, the perfect vehicle for the classic people-going-scuba-diving ad motif.

What can I say, that proud Dad with his improbably dive-ready 5-year-old son(?) cracks me up.

And now, let us adjourn to Tesla town and the comments for Tesla Owners Are Being A Little Hypocritical When It Comes To Charger Access:

In case you missed it, the crux of the story here is Tesla’s Superchargers are, shockingly (no pun intended), optimized for Teslas, and this can cause headaches for not-Teslas which are not-optimized for Supercharger hookup despite having the right NACS plug – tis cord length that’s the rub. And with that context, I give you this team effort from Andrew Daisuke, Tekamul, and Mechjaz that resonated my humorous humerus with its absurdity:

Andrew Daisuke
Possible solution; cars should have the cable permanently affixed to it, and then plug that into the charger itself?

Tekamul
(Reply to Andrew Daisuke)
But then you’re manufacturing 100x the cords. 1 charger (and cable) can serve a lot of cars. Making 1 cable per car is a bit wasteful.

Mechjaz
(Reply to Andrew Daisuke)
Cars should have no fewer than 8 cables. That way you’re never more than 45 degrees out from however the charger is situated. The fact that you will look like a deranged copper octopus flailing your way down the interstate is just a bonus.

And now, we change gears abruptly to Tauntaun talk, apropos of Torch’s Here Is The Only Car Named The Same As A Beast From Star Wars Cold Start. Like music to my toy-nerd ears, the comment chatter turned to Kenner’s toy version of The Empire Strikes Back‘s notoriously smelly (inside and out) space-horses. After Balloondoggle suggested the toy should have allowed kids to emulate the unforgettable scene where Han stuffs a near-frozen, freshly Wampa-mauled Luke into the beast’s tummy to keep toasty, Red Barchetta heroically offers a link to prove such a thing actually existed (give it a click):

Balloondoggle
The Tauntaun action figure should have had an evisceration feature. Open the belly, remove the guts. Sort of a “Visible Man/Woman” anatomy toy, only for Star Wars.

Flyingstitch
(Reply to Balloondoggle)
At first glance I thought they actually went there, but [the hole in the figure] was only the saddle.

Rad Barchetta
[Reply to Flyingstitch]
Boom

Gilbert Wham
[Reply to Rad Barchetta]
Good. I’m glad you found it. I was having a Mandela effect moment there.

I couldn’t resist embedding the commercial, which has some terrifically corny kid-acting:

In addition to simply nerding out, this whole Tauntaun bit is just a excuse for me to share Bill Hader’s fantastic Tauntaun impression:

And with that, GOODNIGHT! Or good morning.