Shawn Marion, a forward for the Phoenix Suns, is not shy to admit that while many adults wake up to “Today” or “Good Morning America,” he prefers “Scooby-Doo” or “ThunderCats.”
Marion, 28, has a cartoon DVD collection that he hopes to turn into a library someday.
His stock consists mostly of classics like “He-Man,” “Transformers,” “DuckTales,” “ThunderCats,” “Hong Kong Phooey” and “Scooby-Doo.”
He also finds the current 3D animation movies entertaining, as well as series like “Family Guy,” “Adult Swim” and “The Simpsons.”
Marion’s affection for cartoons began as a child.
“I used to watch cartoons before I went to school in the morning; I used to come home watching them,” he said. “I just fell in love with them.”
“ThunderCats” is Marion’s favorite. He bought Season 2, Volume 2 on DVD last week. He is fond of one of the show’s main characters, Cheetara, whose special powers include running fast (she has been clocked at 120 miles an hour) and spinning fast to see past events. Marion likes her for another reason.
“She’s hot,” he said.
Marion gets many of his DVDs from a Web site, the name of which he did not want to divulge. He said he was not sure how many he had, but that the number had to range into the thousands.
They are kept in storage containers piled all over his house in Phoenix. When he builds his main house in the next three to four years, Marion said, he plans to include a movie theater with a library to hold his collection. (He also has many DVDs that are not cartoons.)
“I’m going to have a wall full of DVDs,” he said. “It’s going to be a study.”
Marion watches cartoons every day and has shared a DVD or two with Pat Burke, a forward for the Suns.
Burke said the cartoons, which Marion has lent him during road trips, were a way to take him back to his childhood. When he watches them, he is usually alone.
“That’s kind of a solo thing,” Burke said as he laughed.
If Marion were a cartoon character, he said he would be a superstar. “A combo of Flash, Matrix,” he said. “That’d be hot.”