Wednesday, January 30, 2013

E.B.


E.B. is the main character of Hop and is the teenage son of the Easter Bunny who likes to play drums and apparently likes to skate. Having never seen the movie I imagine that if there is any skating it won't last much longer than the 12 seconds of Stuart Little getting rad in the empty bird bath. This figure was manufactured in 2011 by Burger King. After being pressed down the board (along with his feet) do a 360˚ as he extends back to his original stature.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Surfin' Smurfs


The Smurfs return with a set of skaters from Hardee's in 1990. These guys are in their beach party attire and are riding some pretty huge boards. It appears these are intended to be surfing smurfs but they slapped wheels on the boards for some reason. I guess that makes them sidewalk surfers. Sassette gets top billing here as she is the only one riding sideways.



Saturday, January 26, 2013

Porkchop


Porkchop appears to be getting pretty rad here. Not only is he cruising on a deck with a very unusual concave shape but he is also listening to some raging tunes on his walkman (or more likely just The Beets). This figure is from 1994 (just around the time the walkman was being surpassed by the discman) and was from Hardee's. These figures came out at the end of Doug's original broadcast run on Nickelodeon (before being reborn a couple years later for Disney).

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Kid Zbar


I happened across these in the same aisle as the GoGo Squeez at the local natural foods store. I think it is fairly common to come across a kid skating through a field when you're out hiking in the woods. The guy who told this kid where to skate is probably the same guy that showed him how to stand on a board.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Munchkin


It may not be too obvious, but this guy is a Munchkin put out by Dunkin Donuts in 1989. He skates sans shoes but still rocks the kneepads (that would be an uncomfortable knee slide). He is also rocking some shades The Macho Man would be proud of and a matching backwards hat that bears a striking resemblance to Homer's fat guy hat.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Stuart Little


Stuart Little rolling in 2003 to promote his 2nd movie, Stuart Little 2. This figure was made for Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy, which appears to be a southern Dairy Queen. This is the most realistic posed figure that has been featured on BPA so far (and probably will be for quite awhile). I have not seen the movie but judging by the cover there is some skateboarding in it.

Edit: I saw the movie today and although there is skating on the cover and multiple skateboarding themed promo items this film featured all of 12 seconds of skating. On the upside, Stuart skated a drained bird bath.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Snoopy II


Snoopy is seen here cruising while doing his best Poochie (of The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show  fame) impression. I'm not sure when this figure was released (the date on the bottom has the copyrights for the character and the 3D representation but they are clearly too early for this figure). My guess is probably sometime in the '90s. Unlike his earlier appearance on BPA, this time Snoopy appears as a totally outrageous paradigm with a healthy shmear of skater.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Garfield III


Garfield returns with a third figure - a McDonald's Happy Meal toy from 1988. They started out with a larger figure riding a pink version of the board that Baby Kermit rode in '86. This was a test market figure and I guess he tested too big because the standard version they went with has a smaller figure riding a fish shaped deck (complete with rails, nose bone and tail bone). There are some other slight differences - the larger figure is wearing a knit cap while the smaller figure has a helmet and the Hawaiian print has changed slightly. Check out Garfield's earlier BPA appearances (with Pooky and ready for tennis).


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Felix Pin


Felix the Cat pin from 1989. This was made the same year as the Felix figure previously featured on BPA. Here he's eschewed his pads, shoes and wrestling onesie for a fairly plain outfit but still looks like he is catching some sweet air.

Edit: I recently picked up a 2nd pin with a slightly different color scheme and a gold border instead of silver.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

GoGo Squeez


After some extensive market research it has been scientifically proven that a delicate combination of high-fives and skateboards sell applesauce.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Sonic Bendable X-Tremes



Sonic Bendable X-Tremes are a set of 4 "bendable" figures from 2006 with magnets in their feet and hands as well as the board. In theory you can bend their hands down to grab the board but in reality they are not nearly pliable enough to do anything more than move their arms a couple degrees. The non-bendable X-Tremes were featured here previously. This features the regular Sonic line-up of Cherrie, Pete, Junior, and Molly (with Tot). Unlike their non-bendable cousins, all the Bendable X-Tremes skate.


Friday, January 4, 2013

Vice Versa


I think we can all agree that the mindswap movie is the greatest subgenre of film. While Freaky Friday is the most well known, Vice Versa is clearly the best. Unfortunately, I do not think it has any actual skating in it but it does feature The Honorable Judge Reinhold on the cover skating down his desk and causing general mayhem in the office.

The highlight of the movie is when the Judge hits up a Malice concert and gets them to sign something "Party 'till you puke!"