Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Toy Chest Tuesday! Applause PVC Treats!

Ok so here is the thing. I'm truly a simple kinda dorkette. I don't need big fancy play sets or extravagant figures with more articulation than a real human being. (Though those things are nice.) Sometimes the best kind of toys are just small pieces of PVC. At least I think PVC is the correct term. I don't know what this stuff is made of, I just know that back in the day companies like Applause and Disney made the best little toys! There was this store at my local mall that would always have the perfect little items from the latest blockbuster movies. It was the best. After catching a great movie, I'd go to the store and see what they had to offer. So let's check out some of these fun PVC mini-figures from some of your favorite films (and other things) ever made! (These will be in no particular order)

Dick Tracy

When Dick Tracy came out, it was a tremendous merchandise juggernaut. There were books, action figures, dolls, and let us never forget the soundtrack that featured Madonna's Vogue. Now strike a pose and look at these toys!

It is very strange, I only ever got two mob guys, Itchy and Prune Face, and of course Breathless Mahoney (more on her in a second.) I still don't know why I was never interested in getting a Dick Tracy figure, but I think it had to do with the villains. There were so many cool villains with their own unique sort of gimmick. It reminded me of the Evil Warriors from He-Man. (I do realize that Dick Tracy as a property came out way before He-Man.) And of course I had to have a Breathless.

I am a woman of a particular age and while some people may have Britney Spears or Lady Gaga as their forever pop star, Madonna was/is mine. I remember crying when Breathless died, because that was my favorite pop star on that big screen giving that performance everything she had. And when I saw that Breathless figure from Applause in my mall store, I just about died of dorky excitement. During that time I would also become desperate to find just about anything Breathless related. I had the Velcro wallet with Breathless on the cover. I wore out the cassette soundtrack. Of course the one thing I had really wanted was the lovely Breathless doll from Playmates. She has always alluded me.

The Little Mermaid

My most favorite Disney movie ever. Like ever. I have a best friend who says Cinderella should be my favorite Disney movie on account that I've spent my fair share of time in an attic and I have a thing for nice shoes, but The Little Mermaid will always be my favorite. A little known fact about me: I never eat sea food because that is practically like cannibalism. I simply cannot eat members of my kingdom. (In some weird twist of fate I know it will be proven that I come from a line of mer-folk. I'm just waiting for the ancient texts or visit from Tritan or something.)

Anyways, this little Ariel figurine was brought to us by Applause and she is one of the more creepier looking Ariel figures. She looks slightly possessed by something. But she was my first Ariel figure in what would become a long line of Ariel items. I remember going to see The Little Mermaid and just crossing my fingers that this would be a hit for Disney, and we all know how that turned out. I just wish though that instead of making dolls and tiny versions of Ariel, that Disney and Mattel could actually release a nice line of action dolls or something. I think that would be cool.

Daisy Duck

One of the things I have never understood about Mickey and his friends is the lack of love that Daisy Duck gets. I mean Mickey gets toy treatment all the time, as does Minnie. I mean my goodness, that mouse in a dress has her own damn show. What about Daisy? Well, at least Applause made a great figurine. I also love that she was in pink as opposed to her usual purple.

Bugs Bunny?

Ok so I have to admit I am not sure if this figure is Bugs Bunny in drag or if it is Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. One of the problems with purchasing these little figurines is that they do not come with any packaging so sometimes the identity of a toy can be called into question. I mean under normal circumstances I would say that this is Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. However, the rascally rabbit has totally stepped out in drag during numerous outings. (If so, Bugs doesn't even bother with a wig, he just uses his ears for hair.) A Bugs Bunny drag figurine would pretty fun though. I mean drag queens are really important because they can teach us mere mortals how to do things like the death drop and how to make our cheeks pop and lock. The only thing I do know about this figurine is that it was not made by Applause.

Nintendo Power

I remember practically passing out in the video game aisle at Toysrus when I saw that Applause had made Nintendo PVC figurines of not just Mario, but Princess Toadstool (as she was called at the time.) I mean Princess Toadstool! This figurine alone helped jump start my interest and love for video games. This Princess Toadstool went with me everywhere during the summer of '89.

Peanuts

When I was little I found myself relating a lot with Lucy from the Peanuts gang. We had so much in common. We were bossy know-it-alls who gave dopey boys a hard time and we'd eventually have a thing for musicians. So imagine my surprise when Applause made cool Peanuts figurines. The Peanuts would of course get the royal toy treatment in various forms throughout the years, but at the time this is all I thought Lucy fans would ever get.

Betty Boop

Remember when Betty Boop was on, like, everything? Like there was a definite time when Betty Boop was just over saturating the collector's market. I kinda miss those days because Betty Boop sort of feels like a bygone character now. I went through a big Betty Boop phase, and really what dorky white girl didn't? I had Betty Boop t-shirts with some silly message like, "I'm a down ass B, boop-boop!" Or whatever. They were those silly Betty Boop attitude t-shirts, you all know what I am talking about. I thought I was so sexy and cool. I was sadly mistaken. But I am happy to have a fun Betty Boop figurine!
 
Gremlins 2
 
Ok so let me set the stage for you. Gremlins was one of those movies that was just a big deal for me as a kid. I loved Gizmo and his exploits were really fun, if not slightly terrifying. Gremlins 2 was the movie that made me lose a little love for Gizmo because the actual Gremlins stole the movie and my heart. Seriously, the series wasn't called Gizmo. So Gremlins 2 was just a satisfying movie experience, and after watching it in the theater I went to my trusty mall store with the Applause goodies and I found this lil ditty...
 
The girl Gremlin was just the best. Her real name is Greta, and for some reason I only learned this recently. I feel like I should have water thrown on me after midnight for that one. But my goodness I absolutely loved this figurine. What is even better is that Neca was supposed to be releasing a nice new updated version of Greta, so I really hope they still do.
 
Jessica Rabbit
 
Ok so I come from a movie family. Like ever since I was little, movies were just a part of the fabric of our lives. I mean I don't even know how to explain it. Movies have just always been important to us, and I certainly learned a thing or two from all these great movies. I think it was Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that really introduced me to the idea of finding a way to define the word sexy. I mean I was far too young to be concerned with the word sexy, but when my mom took me and a friend to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Jessica Rabbit slinked onto the screen it was like I had this strange moment where I said to myself, "I want to move just like that!" Well my mom was not too happy with that, in fact she thought Jessica Rabbit was a bad influence. "Good girls don't behave like Jessica Rabbit!" I at least had this awesome figurine.
 
I think it was the hair covering part of her face. I mean the leg slit and oddly shaped spinal chord may have had something to do with it too, but I fell in love with the hair covering part of her face. I tried my best to emulate that when I was younger. Unfortunately I could never get it right. I have always had flat, straight, and boring hair. There were never chances for wavy luxurious hair to stay in place over part of my face. And for the record, folks need to stop acting like Angelina Jolie invented the leg slit move, because Miss Jessica Rabbit was doing it before Angelina was even tossing back a vile of blood. Also, on a side note, this figurine was once holding a frying pan with a face print in it like from the movie, but I cut it off when I was little. I thought she'd look better without it. 
 
So here is the group all together. I have some more Applause-type PVC figures, and they may show up again. When I see this image I can't help but think that this line-up would make a strange cast for a show or something. Like from left to right the characters would be three dueling divas that fight crime both real and animated. There would be the two mob guys in their colorful pimp suits and Prune Face could have a stand alone episode where he finds out about Botox. The show would also feature a vain duckette who walks around pants less. I think fans would go nuts for the Italian plumber that eats shrooms and crawls around the sewer trying to save this goofy girl that is always getting kidnapped. There'd also be some sob story with a Disney Princess just wanting the chance to walk and she'd get help from her rabbit friend that does 80's aerobics drag. There'd be the requisite kid with attitude, and she'd be allergic to Peanuts, just for the humor of it all. To cap it all off there would be some hardcore gal with green hair who'd be unable to get wet after midnight. (Now there goes her social life.) I think this all has the trappings for a sloppy hit!
 
Anyways, I hope that Toy Chest Tuesday finds you all well. Again, I am sure more Applause figurines will show up again. For now enjoy the mash up of PVC goodness. PVC is the correct term right? I need my fellow dorky readers to help a dorkette out. So keep it here, because I am working on a really fun Heroic Hottie for the month! All I will say is that I have been interviewing someone who will be competing in a new reality show called Earth's Next Top Pope. Oh this is going to be so much fun. Take care everyone!
 
 
 

16 comments:

  1. Oh shheeeit... the sexy girl gremlin! I don't know which one I'd lay down for first: Betty, Jessica or Grembitch.

    Betty, no doubt. Jessica Second-a.

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    1. I don't know, Prune Face might be my top spot. ; )

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  2. I have a friend that collects these sort of little pieces and stores them in little plastic jars and boxes.

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    1. There is a comic store that I sometimes frequent but it is out of my way, so I don't visit it often. And they have cubbies full of these items. I put most of mine in a box for now, but I am just trying to figure out my issue of space right now. lol

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  3. Hmmm-can't picture you being mean to boys like Lucy. Fortunately, you never could have pulled a football away from me because-unlike Charlie Brown-I never attempted to kick a football! ( or comprehend how football is played-even though it has been explained to me several hundred times.)
    I Love the Dick Tracy comic strip and Chester Gould's art, though I never saw the movie when I was a kid. I am surprised it wasn't a bigger hit in the wake of the Tim Burton Batman film. Wasn't Madonna kind of box office poison? Like every movie she was in was doomed because she was it it?
    The girl Gremlin-wow, I never knew they made a toy of her. did they have pvc figures of the other Gremlins? Like the Tony Randall Gremlin that talked?
    I would think the Bunny must be Bugs in drag because they really didn't have a girl bunny in looney tunes until Lola from Space Jam. (but considering how often Bugs got dolled up in drag and hit on Elmer Fudd perhaps there was a reason for that I didn't understand as a kid.) Speaking of girl rabbits I did love Babs from Tiny Toons!
    I saw the Little Mermaid right when it came out and loved it and had a Sebastian the Crab plush doll. But I do eat fish though- but not shrimp because I'm allergic. With Mermista and Ariel you kind of have a mermaid obsession going don't you?
    I didn't have any of these particular PVC toys-but I did have some California Raisin ones, and Mac Tonight PVC figure. I know there was a Mac Tonight Happy Meal, but I am pretty sure the PVC figure was sold in stores because it seems too heavy and rubbery to have been given as a happy meal toy.

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    1. I may not have been super mean to boys like Lucy, but I was rather bossy.

      And I thought Dick Tracy was a big hit at the time? I guess I am mistaking all the tie in merchandise with McDonalds and other stuff as a sign that the movie was a big deal. But at that time I was too young to really have any concept of box office success.

      I know they had a few other Gremlin pvc characters, but I really could not tell you which ones they were. I was only interested in the girl one.

      And i was trying to remember what the girl Bugs Bunny was named! Lola! I forgot all about her, but I totally loved Babs from Tiny Toons. Oh I wish Tiny Toons was back in some way. I loved that show.

      And I do have an obsession with mermaids. The Little Mermiad was my favorite story as a kid, like the real sad depressing one from Hans. I would cry and cry, because I thought it was so sad, but I just loved it.

      I also have some California Raisins! Those were so cool. I don't think I ever had any Mac Tonight though.

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  4. Well I'm glad you enjoyed the post! lol As for poppin and lockin cheeks, I was kinda making that up, but it was more in reference to face cheeks. Like my brother and two of my friends love RuPaul's Drag Race and I am always amazed at how drag queens can apply and contour blush in such a way that they have these amazing cheeks that just pop off their faces. so I was kinda making up some fun lingo. lol As for the death drop, my brother showed me this video of a drag show where the drag queen literally falls from the ceiling landing with the splits on the stage. It is just out of control.

    Anyways, I am freaking out for Casta. Just totally freaking out. I think she looks amazing and I love the disc, even though most people are giving it a nay.

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  5. So what does it say about me, that you say cheeks and I automatically think you mean rear-ends. I'm a deviant! This post had me all torn up! Now that I think about it though, when I think drag queens, I think of big, chubby dudes with way too much makeup on - like a John Waters film. Are those the fat, multi-colored cheeks you speak of? As far as the death split thing...I can't even begin to wrap my head around that. Yikes. So yeah, Castaspella looks AMAZING. I like the disc, also. If she's not the best female sculpt the Horsemen have ever done, she's in the top like 3 for sure. I dunno if you saw Huntress, but I'm a big Batman fan (as you know), so I'm freaking tickled over her. She looks great too, and although I'm not super big on Fire's 80's truly outrageous/Misfits look, they still did an amazing job on her. Speaking of DC, my good friend Chad I was telling you about found the new Penguin for me at K-Mart the other day, so I'm just thrilled. Between the Masters stuff and the DC/Batman stuff coming out this year, I'm happy. I'm giving serious thought on subbing the Filmation sub - Batros, Icer, and Shakoti all look really, really cool. What a fun time to be a toy collector - and a shitty time to be broke! Until next time Miss M xoxo

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  6. Well to be fair, the way I worded the whole cheek thing could have gone either way. lol And I think I am thinking about the same thing with the cheek make up thing. lol

    I'm glad you like the disc on Castaspella too! I really really like it. And I also like the Huntress and it is so funny, because Fire does look like she belongs on a Jem and the Holograms episode. I'm glad your friend got you the Penguin too.

    I don't know what I am going to do about the Filmation sub. I can't afford it, but I want Shokoti, and something tells me the other releases are going to be good. So... I don't know what I am going to do yet. lol It is a good time to be a collector! Hope you are doing well!

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  7. Actually, the Bugs Bunny figure you mentioned isn't Bugs in drag at all but a character called Honey Bunny who was created specificly for merchandising purposes. She appeared in Looney Tunes merchandise from the late 1960's up until the early 1990's and was phased out around the time Space Jam was released and replaced with Lola. Although to be honest with you, I suppose this was an improvement because Lola is much prettier.

    I had no idea that a figure of Honey Bunny even existed up until now. Thank you for sharing this.

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    1. Oh wow thank you for this information! I kinda had the feeling that this was a girl character, but I never really knew about Honey Bunny. Maybe I did ages ago, but nothing was really coming up for me. I forget so much. I knew about Lola from Space Jam, but Lola does look much different and better. I agree with you.

      Thank you for the comment, and I hope you are doing well!

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    2. Honey Bunny has quite interesting life story, so to say. Originally she looked more like today's Lola Bunny, and in fact Lola is in large part based on or influenced by Honey Bunny. Here's how Honey Bunny looked like in comics:

      http://www.honeybunnyworld.com/30,en,gallery.html

      However, more versions of her appeared in merchandise and live shows at amusement parks:

      http://www.honeybunnyworld.com/honey_faces_en.png

      As we see, she was also planned to appear in cartoons and in Space Jam, however, cartoons have been cancelled and in Space Jam some crazy artist decided to remove her from Looney Tunes cast :P Now an interesting fact - Warner Bros. preferred Honey Bunny more than Lola. Even long after the premiere of Space Jam they kept using Honey Bunny and Lola Bunny completely faded away up to some 2000.

      BTW, if you wanna learn something more about this character I invite you to visit http://www.honeybunnyworld.com/ - this site contains a complete biography of her and tons of comics stories and photos of gadgets with her. There are also some video files with live shows and TV commercials.

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    3. Hello Marek! I have been searching over that website! It is really informative! I had no idea about all this stuff regarding Honey Bunny. I actually like the name Honey Bunny more than Lola. I think Lola was prettier looking in the Space Jam movie, but I must admit, I am really fond of Honey Bunny now from this site. I mean I've always been fond of the little pvc toy I had growing up, but I totally love all this rich history and knowledge on her! It is really great! Thank you so much for letting me know about all this stuff!

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  8. No problem!

    Anyway, I just dug up a little more information about that particular figure. It was produced by Dakin around 1986 and supposedly it's very rare and hard to find, so please continue to take good care of it. There was also another PVC figure of Honey Bunny produced earlier in the 80's, but I have no idea who the manufacturer is. If you go to the Honey Bunny World site and look in the "Collectables" section in the site's gallery, you will see it. It's the one wearing a red sweater.

    Speaking of Dakin, whatever happened to them? Plushies and figures made by them used to be a very common sight back in the 90's and then sometime in the mid 2000's, it became a rarity.

    And on a unrealted note, I just saw the "interview" post with the Integrity Jem doll. I have to say that it looks much more stunning in real life than it did in the promotional photos. I guess I'm going to have to invest some money to get my hands on that Aja doll. What can I say, Aja happens to remind me of an adult version of the title character from Mahou no Yousei Pelsia.

    Thank you very much for taking your time to reply and have a great day.

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    1. Oh my goodness, well thank you for the information on an actual Honey Bunny site! I totally need to do some investigating to learn mure. And I love love love Dakin items. I used to have a few of the Cuddles bears. Those were always cute. I don't really know what happened to them, but it is sad that they aren't around. They used to do some Garfield stuff. I had a really cute Garfield stuffed animal from them a long time ago.

      And you should totally get a Jem doll. Aja is a pretty nice figure. I wish her hair had more of a blunt cut like in the toon, but she is still a stunning doll. They all are, I am still just amazed at how wonderful these dolls look! And I enjoy taking the time to reply to any and all comments that people leave here. So feel free to comment whenever you feel like it!

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    2. Oh and by the way, I will make sure Honey Bunny is taken care of. I'm pretty crazy about making sure things last for a long time, so Honey will be in good hands! : )

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