I also thought Calimero was French ! Actually his origins are Italian. He first appeared as a character in a laundry detergent comercial in 1961 .The detergent would make the mud blackened chick yellow again ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlM--m-AELY Beginning in 1963 the authors went on to produce a series of non-publicity cartoons starring Calimero.This and subsequent series of cartoons were exported to Japan and in 1974 Toei Animation of Japan bought the rights and went on to produce 47 anime episodes between 1974 and 1975. Another 52 episodes were produced in 1992. Apparently an attempt to export Calimero to the US in the early seventies was unsuccessfull because Calimero was a black lead character. I find this last bit of info hard to believe and suspect that the strength of the american cartoon industry was enough to thwart most attempts by foreign producers to make inroads into american markets. For a variety of reasons us Quebec kids of the 70's were lucky enough to grow up on classic Japanese (Mahotsukai Sally, Kerokko Demetan, Jungle Taitei, Don Chuck Story, UFO Robo Grendizer, Captain Harlock, Captain Future etc...) and european animated series which were the basic cartoon fare on french-speaking tv. We could also watch most of the american stuff on the u.s. channels. And now back to the regularly programmed cute vinyl...
That is wonderful Moog. Love the colour of the blanker or whatever vegetable is that around the head. Lovely expression on the face. Is is squishy or hard?
Fairly soft & squishy and the face is hard vinyl. Its a promo figure for the Kewpie brand codfish roe pasta sauce. The red represents the egg sack of the Alaska Pollock (Cod). I'm pretty sure this version was made specifically for the Sega claw-crane machines the Japanese are so fond of . . . . (the woman i bought it from on ebay thought it was a chicken drumstick . . . . )
Designed by Nino Pagot (and animated by Studio Pagot before the Japanese version). Just thought someone might be interested in this detail, sorry for going off topic.
I've actually been looking for that Pinnochio long since before joining the board... I saw him 6 years ago, and wanted one ever since.... He's really cool, nice to meet you, welcome to the board.
i don't usually stumble in here, but i'm glad i did! i love that unagi cat... and isn't that the basis for the eel cats rxh has been doing lately?
Le Fauve is the mascot of the Angoulême comic fest. Based on a Lewis Trondheim character. I wanted one for years !
first post! these are "Extraterrestrials", a line made by Remco/Mel Appel in 1982. they are hollow, and contain a small piece of paper with a message you can decode. the purple one was the last one i acquired to complete my set, and his message read "I'm not lonely anymore." How fitting!
funny, i just sent a package to someone in Columbus, OH. Welcome to the board Barbe-ah, i mean muckmonster