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🕑 Added 2024-11-14 19:01:38 +0000 UTC

Comments

PETER AVANZINO

Pretty close. I look for Avanzinos while watching the 10 minutes of credits waiting for post credits scenes. Haven’t seen one yet.

Adam Azzalino

Peter: I paused Futurama and did a double-take the first time I saw your name in the opening credits because I thought we had the same last name for a second. hehe

PETER AVANZINO

Nina does great Simpsons art. Good caricatures that are kept nice and simple. Most people get too many lines in there and make them too humany. Hers are super simple, yet are still good likenesses.

Ryan O'Reilly

So I can answer your inquiry about why the Flaming Moe is an orange drink as a former Universal employee: In summer of 2010, Universal opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which included the signature drink Butterbeer. It was such a smash hit that they recouped the cost on Butterbeer sales alone. The next year, Universal announced that Potter would come to their Hollywood park at a later date, but internally they knew that it would take about four to five years due to the project requiring the top half of the park to be completely dismantled and revised. There was also the issue that they could not sell Butterbeer outside of the land per the contract with Warner Bros and JK Rowling. Universal immediately sought to introduce a counterpart drink for the Hollywood park that could be just as popular. Their next big attraction was Transformers The Ride in May 2012, and so they chose to base a drink around that property. Knowing Butterbeer was eventually coming, they opted to swerve in a different direction with a citrus-themed drink: Energon, named after the fuel that the Autobots and Decepticons run on in the Transformers franchise. It was described to Transformers employees as an orange creamscicle drink over ice and was sold outside the attraction, first in a temporary stand, and then to the left of the ride at the Refueling Station permanent stand. (https://x.com/JonathanGreen85/status/1350913631144210432) The drink massively failed to sell despite its popularity with team members, and operations as well as management figured it was due to the confusion of what the drink was. The drink was replicating a fuel source, and audiences didn't know what Energon was or was supposed to be. That same year, Transformers the Ride was announced for Universal Studios Florida to be built in under a year alongside Springfield across the way. Originally the intention was to bring Energon to Florida as an alternative to Butterbeer, but USF representatives nixed the idea, but liked the drink. To recoup the R&D costs for the drink itself, it was decided to rebrand it but this time as a known beverage in another universe: The Simpsons. Universal execs badly desired a non-alcoholic item to be served at Moe's alongside Duff so the bar wasn't strictly an adults go-to location. Allegedly the writers suggested they sell Flaming Moe's, and that's where the two ideas merged. They knew that the drink did not at all resemble the one from the show, so they added the dry ice effect and hoped that would be enough to satisfy guests. In 2013, Energon was discontinued from Universal Studios Hollywood but of course came back in modified form as the Flaming Moe in 2015 with the opening of the west coast Springfield. Sorry it's such a long story, but this has been a tale that I've been privy to for awhile and answers all of those maddening questions.