When most folks hear about "Classic Pooh," they typically don't imagine a gray-haired Winnie the Pooh dressed in a suit. But at the height of the bean bag craze at the Disney Store and Catalog (around 2002 to 2005) the gang from the Hundred Acre Woods had to expand their horizons and go where they had never gone before.
Pooh became an intimidating Super Hero! What was Pooh's power? He could control the world's bees, and could make them sting his foes! Pooh's catch-phrase was "Oh, Bee-have!" (yes, he got permission from Austin Powers). Piglet was enlisted to become Super Pooh's sidekick.
Piglet was given growth hormones, and as pigs tend to do, he got huge!
Winnie the Pooh had already established a Beatles cover band, so naturally the quartet assumed the identity of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
They hope you enjoyed their show!When an asteroid threatened to destroy Earth, Pooh and his crew decided to become astronauts.
Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Aerosmith destroyed the asteroid before Pooh and his friends completed Space Camp training.Pooh later moved to Chicago, Illinois to perform with the Blues Brothers.
Pooh adored the Blustery City. I mean, the Windy City. He also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, did guest appearances with Bozo the Clown (he even helped set up the buckets for The Grand Prize Game), and was a reporter for WGN News.
Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore later joined the circus! Eeyore was not a fan of dressing up as an elephant, or Pooh's strict training process.
Not shown is Kanga as the Bearded Lady.Pooh may be stuffed with fluff, but he's a also a stocky tough guy that is buff. He took up weightlifting when he went to Australia.
Piglet became a Judo Master in Australia, and opened a training studio called "Pork Chops."
Pooh then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he hoped to finally open the "Disney's America" theme park that had originally been planned for Virginia in the 1990s.
As was the case in Virginia, the locals protested, and the park wasn't built. The "Disney's America" sites later became lackluster shopping centers.
After spending so much money traveling, Pooh and Piglet temporarily became vagabonds, and hopped on trains to get around the country.
When they finally landed a new gig, they were able to travel first class again.
And what a fantastic new show they got!
Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore put on a show that the world had always wanted to see. A Winnie the Pooh Barbershop Quartet!
Pooh and his friends now can be seen sporting their handlebar moustaches and performing musical numbers on Main Street at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland!
Very funny post, Dan! I think I said it before, but I will go ahead and say it again.....BIZARRE! I know at one time the "Beanie" craze was huge, but weren't they stretching it a bit with some of these? I wonder how many of these ended up at the discounted Disney merchandise stores?
ReplyDeleteThanks, TokyoMagic! The themes they came up with sure made me laugh when I saw them in the Catalogs. I do wonder why Rabbit, Owl and the others were not used. I also wonder what ideas were rejected (maybe none were!).
ReplyDeleteDo you think that's a toupee Pooh is wearing for his role as "Classical Pooh", or did he somehow manage to grow flowing locks of grey hair? I'm guessing the first one, since Pooh is a stuffed animal and can't actually grow hair.
ReplyDeleteThe circus set reminds me of an episode of "The Book of Pooh" where the characters put on a circus. Especially since both had Eeyore dressing as an elephant.
There's something amusing about Piglet, who has "afraid of a lot" as one of his main character traits, being a Judo Master.
I wish the people in charge of Disney Merchandising would bring back the "let's dress Pooh and his friends up as just about anything no matter how off-the-wall it is" series of plushes. Who WOULDN'T buy a plush of Pooh, Piglet, Tigger or Eeyore dressed as Marvel superheroes?
Come to think of it, I'm surprised that there wasn't more synergy with these plushes.
Oh, and as for why Rabbit, Owl and the others didn't get plushes for these sets, I think it mainly stems from the fact that Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore are the most popular Winnie the Pooh characters aside from Pooh himself, and thus they thought a million different Eeyore plushes would sell better than a Rabbit plush in a straw hat and a handlebar moustache.