Principally the microwaves are used until they become unusable. This doesn't mean a microwave has to be broken though: sometimes a microwave is swapped out while still in working condition. This is called a retirement. The most common reason for early retirement is that a microwave becomes so dirty that it becomes too hard to see inside of her. Most of the times a dirty microwave gets retired when the season ends (with an exception for Helga).
On the performance of the microwave shows of VidCon and Playlist Live, the microwaves are just bought for the performance and after that they are switched out too.
The current amount of official retired microwaves, is twelve.
| Picture | Name | Brand | First experiment | Last experiment | Experiments | Season finish? | Notes about retirement | After retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Unnamed | Sharp Carousel | #1 - Light bulb | #18 - Moist Towelette | 18 | Yes | First microwave to be retired. | The microwave was left on the curb for the trash since she wasn't working as well as before. This microwave was so dirty that she should be sealed up and never opened again. |
|
Diane | Sharp Carousel | #19 - Light bulb, toothpaste, soy sauce | #44 - Dynamite | 26 | Yes | Diane was not retired after experiment 44. Experiment 44 itself was the retirement of Diane - being blown up. Diane did not die, she was killed. | On episode 62 she made her final appearance when her remains were getting microwaved. |
|
Lacey | G.E. Turntable | #78 - Bubble gum | #102 - Mac laptop | 25 | Yes | Lacey was the first retired microwave to have a montage, however her montage was with the funeral music. | Moments after her retirement, Lacey was left on the curb with the rest of the trash from Jon's family. |
|
Samantha | Samsung | #156 - Big Mouth Billy Bass | #166 - Gigantic mercury vapor light bulb | 11 | Yes | A fan made Samantha a retirement montage with funeral montage music. Her retirement was revealed in the annotations of episode 167 (season 7 premiere). | (unknown) |
|
Penny | Panasonic | #168 - Glitter ball | #185 - Sega Game Gear | 18 | No | Penny is the fifth microwave to be retired, and the second microwave to get a retirement montage, after Lacey which had funeral montage music. She was the first ever to not get retired at the end of a season. | Penny went to the Retirement Hall of Fame and got her AARP card. |
|
Melissa | GoldStar | #196 - Mighty Putty | #211 - Capacitors & Voltage Meter | 16 | No | Melissa was the first microwave to still work at the end of a season but was not used for the final experiments. Unnamed, Lacey, Samantha, Saint Margaret II and Penelope did the final experiments, because it was shot at the same time as the other experiments. However, in season 7, the two-part finale was filmed months after the regular experiments, and Jon didn't want to keep dirty Melissa around that long. | (unknown) |
|
Saint Margaret II | Emerson | #225 - ShamWow! | #242 - Gold (sans #234 - Vidcon) |
17 | Yes | Producer Jonathan Paula felt to keep Saint Margaret II for season 9. Then she would've been the second microwave to be carried over to another season (after Helga). However, after episode 242 (S8 Finale) she had her third death and resurrection and this prompted Jon to change his mind and he adjudged her a well-deserved retirement. | Directly after her retirement Jory and Riley called people to write Saint Margaret II little Bible passages. |
|
Justine | Sharp Carousel[1] | #234 - VidCon 2010 | 1 | No | Justine was used for the guys' VidCon performance. She was named after popular YouTube star iJustine. She was the first microwave not to be retired because she was dirty. The guys just couldn't take her back home to Boston. | After the VidCon performance, Justine was dumped on the curb. | |
|
Penelope | Panasonic | #254 - Flip Camera | #270 - Bottle of Beer | 17 | Yes | For season 10 Jon confirmed that they either will figure out a way to better clean the microwave girls, or they'll remember to retire them early. Penelope should have been retired early, as in the duct tape experiment the guys realized she was too dirty to see out of for a lot of her run. | (unknown) |
|
Rapunzel | G.E. Turntable |
All experiments.
|
6 | No | For season 10 Jon promised the guys would retire the microwaves early when they become too dark. Rapunzel became too dark on her inside, so after five experiments Rapunzel was retired and switched out. | In experiment #288 she was un-retired for the gasoline experiment. However, she did not survive this experiment. | |
|
Felicia | Sharp Carousel | #275 - Playlist Live Special | 1 | No | Felicia was used for the guys' performance at Playlist Live. Just like Justine she was retired after the performance. | (unknown) | |
|
Shelley | GoldStar | #291 - Cigarettes | #293 - Bra (retired) #300 - Propane (dead) |
4 | No | Retired for the same reason as Rapunzel; she became too dark on her inside and the guys got rid of her after three experiments. With 3 experiments on her name, Shelley became the microwave with the shortest run before being retired early (apart from the special performance microwaves). | In Experiment #300, she was un-retired to be the special series finale microwave, however she did not survive this experiment. |
Montages[]
The first retirement montage Jon made, was for the retirement of Lacey. It was funeral-themed with a white colored background and the normal funeral song, the only difference was the text. It was RETIRED and not R.I.P. on the last shot. After that, no microwave ever got a retirement montage, until the retirement of Penny. This time it has a red-white-blue colored background and an upbeat marching theme.
Unnamed, Diane, Samantha, Justine and Felicia however never got a retirement montage by Jon. However, since their retirements, there have been fan-made montages.
Tally[]
- Microwaves retired with season ending: 6
- Unnamed, Diane, Lacey, Samantha, Saint Margaret II, Penelope
- Microwaves retired in the middle of a season: 6
- Penny, Melissa, Justine, Rapunzel, Felicia, Shelley
References[]
- ↑ Says Emerson in Captions on the video, says Sharp Carousel on microwave.