It's nearing the end of Shark Week; the metaphorical birth child of a couple drunk Discovery Channel executives post-work brainstorming ritual of cocktails and note scribbling. Or, at least, that's the rumor. But, who cares? We love sharks and, continuing with the 2021 Summer Survival Guide, today I'm going to talk about a few of my favorite sharks from pop culture!

STREET SHARKS

Of course, I have to mention Street Sharks. They were sort of a TMNT ripoff (among other TMNT rip-offs) but, as kids, none of us really cared if they were rip-offs or not. All we gave a shit about was having figures that could either fight with or against our previously owned toys. And boy, did they have figures.

They had a cartoon as well, but I'm not as familiar with it like I am the toys aside from the first episode or two. I loved them all but Robert Bolton Jr, otherwise known as "Streex," was my favorite of the bunch. He's a fucking blue and purple tiger striped shark with roller blades! There isn't anything else you can add to that mix to make it more badass. Streex is peak badassery and that's a mountain I'm willing to die on.

Also, I'm not sure what this means but Storm Collectibles may and or may not have hinted to a possibility of a future Street Sharks line through a tweet recently. My jaw is still recovering from when it dropped all the way to the floor once I saw the tweet.

TMNT'S ARMAGGON

Most people familiar with the Ninja Turtles know that Armaggon, a TMNT baddie, exists specifically in the Tournament Fighters game for SNES and Sega Genesis, the Archie Comic series, and also the 2012 Nickelodeon series.

In my opinion he is an immensely underrated and underutilized character. He was not among the original Playmates toys run which is sort of surprising; Playmates toys had an insane lineup of turtle figures. It wasn't until the 2012 series that we got an Armaggon figure and... if I'm being honest... it's my least favorite Armaggon thing to exist. Fortunately, Neca is releasing a Tournament Fighters game style Armaggon as part of the 2nd series of their exclusive TMNT Loot Crates. The bad news is, if you're just finding out now, you'll be paying big bucks on the aftermarket to own this figure.

SHARKLEBERRY FIN KOOL-AID

I've written about Sharkleberry Fin a dozen times by now but I'll never miss an opportunity to talk about him on any occasion whatsoever.

In the late 80's to early 90's, Kool-Aid introduced 6 new mascot fronted flavors; among them came a pink shark with sunglasses named "Sharkleberry Fin" who apparently helped Kool-Aid Man to role play The Neverending Story.

Sharkleberry Fins flavor profile is a mix of strawberry, orange and banana. Trust me, it doesn't sound the best on paper but it really is and, luckily, you can still try it to this day! I've mentioned before that Kool-Aid brought back the 5 original Mascot flavors for a limited time but somehow they still to this day seem to be making Sharkleberry Fin available in Jammer, packet and bulk powder form!

SHARK BITES FRUIT SNACKS

Back in 1988, Shark Bites debuted in grocery aisles. Everyone knows what Shark Bites are but if you don't, they were fruit snacks shaped like different types of sharks. No packed elementary school lunch was complete without them.

I don't have a box of these so the one shown above is from a sold listing on eBay that I should have pulled the trigger on instead of watching it disappear and never have the chance of owning one again.

As with most fruit snacks, I didn't really care for the yellow ones but those chalky opaque ones? Those shits, for some reason, always tasted better to me. A lot of different fruit snacks got the opaque treatment down the road but not all fruit snacks got the shark shaped treatment making them infinitely less appealing.

GREAT WHITE LEMON ICE

The Great White ice pop is something that I think most people are familiar with, especially if you love in an area with an ice cream truck. We had one, and I've nearly ran out in traffic for a Great White pop numerous amounts of times. The flavor is lemon, the same as the lemon ice in those small paper containers with the pull top but in the shape of of shark popsicle. This may seem boring but damn did they hit different on a hot summer day.

I remember when I started losing interest in them; they changed the shape from awesome sharks to dumb regular popsicles. They did offer different flavors but it just wasn't the same. A company in Korea has made shark shaped popsicle called Jaws Bars with grey outside and Pink insides but you won't be able to try them unless you live near a fancy market that carries foreign goodies or if you feel like paying an arm and a leg for shipping. It's crossed my mind a few times; seriously... just look at how beautiful they are. Worth it?

BATMAN SHARK REPELLENT SCENE

I've only just discovered this scene this year. I don't really know much about the original Batman show but I know that if you look here, you can see this exact Batcopter in an article I wrote recently. Anyways (end obvious self promotion), Batman apparently has an answer to every single problem for his foreseeable future.

Holy sardines, do I love the noise Batman's fist makes when he punches the shark! Batman supposedly mastered 127 styles of martial arts yet he chooses to beat the shark with one flailing arm like that one scene in Drop Dead Fred where Lizzie smacks the violinist with her purse. Strange decision.

Batman eventually calls for the Shark Repellent Bat Spray and Robin chooses the absolute most awkward way to hand it down to him by dangling by his legs upside down. Batman sprays the ever loving hell out of this shark and you'd think the shark would just fall and that would be it but no; the shark explodes into a thousand pieces as he hits the water. Take that, shark! What the hell kind of spray is this? Could you image if you sprayed bug repellent and the bugs just burst every time they land on you?

TRANFORMERS OVERBITE

And finally, we have Overbite from Transformers! I'm not extremely familiar with Transformers all together aside from the fact that they are vehicles that can transform into these giant mech warriors. That's as far as my expertise goes. Overbite, though.. caught my attention with absolute ease.

Overbite is part of the Decepticon Seacons from the Gen 1 continuity family. The Seacons are a group of 6 Decepticon underwater combat specialists. This might all sound like a foreign language but what really matters is that Overbite is the coolest of the Seacon bunch. He's transforming mechanical shark who enjoys destroying and sinking oil tankers and picking off the drowning humans for sport. And to top it off, he's the same colors as those retro Throwback Igloo coolers! What's not to love?

The original G1 figure is pretty dope but this Japanese Generation Select Overbite figure is probably the best thing I've ever seen, Transformers wise.

Thanks for taking the time to read about cool sharks! If you have more time to waste, buy some Sharkleberry Fin or Frost Bite Mountain Dew, grab some popcorn, head to the nearest air conditioner and watch Jaws!