Investigating a cult inspired by a cartoon mouse (w/ PJ Vogt)
August 13, 2025
1 hr 11 min
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Episode 28 · August 13, 2025
Investigating a cult inspired by a cartoon mouse (w/ PJ Vogt)
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Ken Klippenstein Episodes Around August 13, 2025
Episode 51 of 102 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
Investigating a cult inspired by a cartoon mouse (w/ PJ Vogt)
Summary
If a fandom exists long enough in isolation, does it inevitably become toxic or at least, very strange? This is the main question we’ll be exploring today, through a story that begins in 1989. That’s the year that Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers premiered. More importantly, it’s when the world was introduced to a sweet little mouse girl, Gadget Hackwrench. Gadget became quite popular on a certain part of the internet, and PJ Vogt joins us once again to learn about the Cult of Gadget, and the weird wild world of “Rangerphiles.”
Our guest PJ Vogt is the host of Search Engine. He has previously come on Panic World to talk about whether teens were really gorging themselves on Tide Pods, and you can listen to that episode here. Check out Search Engine here or wherever you get your podcasts!
Notes
Interested in seeing how Ryan & PJ react to Gadget "art"? Or perhaps what Grant's producer cage looks like? Panic World is now posting video episodes to YouTube!
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