As I write this, Disney Pixar's Coco hasn't been released in the United States, but it is a huge hit in Mexico. I plan on seeing the movie on Thanksgiving. Today I stopped by a Toys R Us and noticed a selection of Coco merchandise. Of particular interest to me was the blind bag Mattel "Skullectables" toys, which were actually on sale if you got more than one. While I haven't seen the film, I did spoil it by reading about the story in depth. So, based on that, I had an idea of which characters I wanted to get.
Like the blind bag LEGO mini figure toys, the Coco Skullectables are snap-together pieces. This can make finding what you want rather complicated. The easiest one to find was Pepita, the flying leopard creature (you can feel the wing piece easily, and the creature has a large body). I had to have Dante the dog, plus both versions of Miguel, and Hector the skeleton. There are two versions of Ernesto (human and skeleton) and I lucked out getting the one I wanted.
This movie is of special interest to me, because I have been drawing my own comic called Formula Juan Racer, inspired by my friend, Juan. Since Juan spent most of his life in Mexico, I was excited to ask him about Dia de los Muertos. I had been hearing about the customs of the holiday, and wanted to get his take on it. As it turns out, his family never really did much for it. Funnily enough, his kid dressed up like a skeleton for Halloween this year.
Will Coco merchandise be popular in the United States? My guess is that this will be a situation similar to Up, where the dog character is the most heavily monetized.
