Mr. ask

Mr. Ask was a nerdy cartoon character developed by Tonic Sportswear in the 1980s as part of a line of surfing- and skateboarding-related clothing. He was the comic foil of the "cool characters" in the campaign.

Tonic Sportswear Projects The character was a stylized version of a nerd, and the skaters that harassed him had the dual purpose of glorifying bad behavior and referring to the bad boy subculture of Ska that was popular at the time. The majority of the clothing used angular artwork and neon colors, in keeping with the fashion trend shared by Quiksilver, Vision Street Wear, PCH, and many others.

Tonic Raiders To further market the character, the Tonic company also developed a Saturday morning cartoon entitled Tonic Raiders. Tonic Raiders was as colorful as the clothing it advertised. The nerdy Mr. Ask himself drove a 1959 Buick across a backdrop of Los Angeles imagined in hues of pastel and neon.

Mr. Ask (Tom Mullin in a stuffy, nerdy accent) worked in a book store that also sold comics, where he was accosted daily by the Tonic Raiders, a motley group of skater dudes. The team included the stuttering Carter (Frank Wallace), the uptight Pete (Rick Cullen in a British accent), Reggie (Mark Segal impersonating Sean Penn's character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High), Mikey (Dave Rondel in a Southern accent), Ditzy Carmichael (Ellen Sartelli), Satchy (Jim Monte), and a angry bulldog named Twit (Henry Vegas).

The show debuted on CBS in 1988 and ran for one season.