Cuckoo For Coco Pups

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.

Loo-Kee Here! It's She-Ra and He-Man!

Don't let Loo-Kee fool you.  Most of the time, this colorful woodland creature stayed hidden in the animated TV show "She-Ra" and revealed his hiding place (and the moral of the day's story) at the end of each episode.  However, Loo-Kee was also brave enough to take on Skeletor and Beast Man.  Yep!

By the Power of Grayskull, Loo-Kee matched wits with He-Man's rivals in a cross-over episode of the He-Man spin-off show "She-Ra" in an episode called "Loo-Kee Lends a Hand."

He-Man and Battle Cat (a green tiger) have been fighting off Skeletor since the early 1980s.

When I was a kid, I think my neighbor had every He-Man action figure.  I only had one, and it was Battle Cat (a hard plastic toy with no moving parts, so I guess it was really just an accessory and not an action figure).

Put down those entertaining Mattel products, because it's time to watch He-Man on TV!

Mattel had been toying with the idea of a He-Man show, and turned to animation producer Filmation to create a series in 1983.

Mattel was thrilled with the success of He-Man, since their "Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour" did not do so well (as noted on an episode of "The Simpsons").

Marvel produced a Star Comics title for "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."

Here we see He-Man fighting The Price Increase with R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars "Droids" series.  Notice Spider-Ham (Marvel's own Spider-Man spoof, Peter Porker) is in combat mode here as well.  Seeing one of the Care Bears joining them in the battle is especially hilarious.

Yes, Orko was friends with Snarf from "ThunderCats" and the Transformers, too.

Marvel's Star Comics made many different titles, including "Muppet Babies," "Alf," and "Silverhawks."

It was not unusual to see characters from different studios mingling together in comic book ads.

For publicity photos for Star Comics, Heathcliff defended his turf from Lion-O (from ThunderCats).  An Ewok and a Care Bare fought over who was more cuddly.  The Flintstone Kids were rocking with laughter because He-Man slayed 'em.

She-Ra was introduced in "He-Man and She-Ra In The Secret Of The Sword" in movie theaters in 1985.

This was not a big budget film.  It was like a big episode of the TV show.  Look at Mer-Man!  Lots of fun villains in the He-Man universe.

There were two big things that made She-Ra so popular:  Her personality and her courage.  What did you think I was going to say?

She-Ra also had a big, pink flying unicorn.  Those seem to be really popular these days.  Maybe this post will show up in a lot of Google searches.

Here's a different poster for the He-Man and She-Ra Sword movie.  This one has Hordak and Mantenna, two of She-Ra's foes.  I watched an episode of She-Ra on hulu.com, and it reminded me of Hanna-Barbera's "Space Ghost."  Very limited animation, but nice drawings.

Skeletor is standing next to another cool villain named Leech.

She-Ra also had a toy line.  This is priceless.  Meet Starburst She-Ra and Crystal Swift Wind.  Meet their friends, Sweetbee, Perfuma, Peekablue, Frosta, Flutterina, Mermista, Entrapta and Angella.  Meet their enemy, Scratchin' Sound Catra.

Dolls not shown:  Lipglossia, Nailpolisha, Pillowfightina, Ticklefightina and Tamponica.

Would you like to see the She-Ra origin story?  Here it is.

When there's trouble, you call Luke Skywalker, I mean, He-Man.

When She-Ra isn't a superhero, her name is Adora.

Instead of "By the Power of Grayskull" She-Ra says "By the Honor of Grayskull."  Because she's a classy gal.

Catra clearly idolizes Eartha Kitt.

He-Man saves the day, but interrupts an entertaining catfight.

Spoiler Alert: She-Ra is He-Man's sister from the same mister!

This comic included an ad for a She-Ra Princess of Power Poster.  It looks like one of the characters drove a glittery swan vehicle of some sort.  I don't remember that in the TV show.

She-Ra and He-Man fought all sorts of kooky villains, including King Hiss and the Snake Men.

All the She-Ra and He-Man material here is from issues of Muppet Magazine and Marvel Comics published in the Eighties.

In 1987, Dolph Lundgren (as He-Man) starred in the live action movie, "Masters of the Universe."  The film was directed by Gary Goddard, creator of theme park attractions all over the world, including The Monster Plantation (now called "The Monster Mansion") at Six Flags Over Georgia.

Fans of the TV series "Friends" can see Monica (Courtney Cox) and her Mom (Christina Pickles) along with Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe."

By the Power of Grayswamp, Kermit is He-Frog in a Muppet Magazine parody.

Forget Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  Here, Miss Piggy connects Disney, Marvel, Warner Brothers, Six Flags, Hanna-Barbera, Alf, Star Wars, Transformers, Friends, Heathcliff, Courtney Cox, ThunderCats and He-Man and She-Ra.

Loo-Kee enjoys hiding in the forest so he can spy on She-Ra and her muscular friend.

Loo-Kee can get away with lurking in the background because he is a cute little woodland creature.

If you ever see Loo-Kee when you are in the woods, there are a few rules you need to follow.  Don't shine bright light on him and don't feed him after midnight.  But there is one rule that is the most important, and for Grayskull's sake, you'd better not break the rule.  Never, EVER confuse Loo-Kee with "Loki" from "Thor."

Toy Story 3's Bad Big Baby

I was recently given a Target Gift Card for my birthday, and today I decided to get to a Target store and put it to good use.  When I saw the display for Disney Pixar's Toy Story 3, and Big Baby, I could not resist buying this "Buddy Pack" from Mattel (it would have been awesome if the Buzz Lightyear in this package had been Spanish Buzz, because he and Big Baby were my favorite "new characters" in Toy Story 3).

I love that the Big Baby figurine even has his crayon-scribble tattoos.  I'm not sure if Big Baby's head spins around like it does in the film (a chilling scene!).

I absolutely love the character designs used for this collection.  So far, these two are the only figures I own.  The Action Links! sets look like fun (kind of like the Mouse Trap game).  If you collect these, you might want to know that Walmart has some exclusives (like a paint variation for Buttercup).

On this spending spree, I also bought Season Four of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives on DVD and a case of Caffeine-Free Diet Coke.

I ended up spending all of the $30 Gift Card, and I owed Target 20 cents.