There was a show in 1979 called Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, except they never actually meet the Thing outside of the theme song. Each episode had a totally separate Fred and Barney segment, and a Thing segment. And in this cartoon, the Thing is actually a normal teenager who has a magic ring that turns him into the Thing. None of the other Fantastic Four characters are in the show.
I have a vague memory of thinking this was about the horror movie the Thing when I first saw the title on Wikipedia as a young lad and finding it odd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3WQSZLCVw>this is real and not some weird shitposthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_and_Barney_Meet_the_Thing
>>153889981Ben was real popular back in the day
>>153889923Imagine if Fred had found The Thing while working and then brought him home and taught him the wonders of Bedrock until Reed Richards showed up to take Ben back home.
>>153890117>"Good lord! I see it now! The Thing IS Rockbeard!"
And in the actual Fantastic Four cartoon, The Thing is missing, and his place is taken by Herbie the Robot, an original character made specifically for this cartoon.
>>153890463Human Torch is missing, not the Thing.
>Despite the show's title, the two segments remained separate and did not crossover with one anotherthe original clickbait
>>153890486Yeah, they didn’t want kids lighting themselves on fire iirc
>>153890014Like Wolverine, he was the tough guy who never asked questions
>>153891910um actually it was licensing
>>153889923There was also something called Batman and Tarzan or something like that
>>153891948Canon. He had an audition at the time for a movie or something that didn't develop.
>>153891896>the original clickbaitThat would be every LT package film ever.
>>153889954>Fred and Barney meet John Carpenter’s The ThingSounds like something Family Guy or Robot Chicken would do.
>>153891953>Batman and TarzanWhat? This sounds almost more unlikely than The Thing and The Flintstones pairing.
>>153891953>>153893087https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Batman/Tarzan_Adventure_HourDecades later, there would be an Elseworlds Batman/Tarzan comic
>>153889923Yes we know. Cartoon Network showed reruns of it in the 1990s.
>>153893236Then it became like an SNL skit.(They didn't actually cross over though)
>>153889923Why did 70s cartoons have such strange crossovers?
>>153893859Back then they were spamming cartoons for just about everything. And if two things were popular then there would be a good chance there was some attempt at a crossover to double the appeal.
>>153893859Its not really a crossover just a programming block that groups them together. Today's equivalent would be the algorithm always recommending The Thing to Flintstones watchers or whatever
>>153893980Even so, the way they were grouped together seems totally random
>>153893986One guy is made of rock, and the other two are from the Stone Age; you do the math.
>>153890014Hell he still is, maybe not at the level he and the FF were back in the day but he' still the most popular member
