Sour Beans

Sour Beans, the jelly bean with attitude. I'm not sure if "attitude" refers to sourness, vitamin C, or the sunglasses on the skateboarding jelly bean. I found these in the natural food store (where I also espied the Power Teen vitamins). I actually bought these though and they are actually pretty good. My only question is what are those lines coming out of the skater bean's sunglasses?

Power Teen

I found this vitamin supplement at the local natural foods store. This dude is easily in his mid-20s or later but still made the cover for Power Teen. It's a pretty weak shot even without the unnecessary kneepads. I'm a sucker for stupid stuff like this. I'll buy some jelly beans just because an anthropomorphic jelly bean is skating on the bag* but I draw the line at vitamin supplements. Maybe if if it was an anthropomorphic vitamin on a skateboard I would've bought 'em.

*I'll post these jelly beans sometime in the next few weeks.

Dubble Bubble

I found this dude on a package of Dubble Bubble gum in the dollar store. Apparently this dude's name is Pud, and he once appeared in a Bazooka Joe like comic. It looks like he's gone through a fair amount of changes over the years but has yet to make the jump to the creepy 3D mascot that most companies are opting for now. Previous gum mascots on BPA: Léo.

Bobby Banana

The Dole banana returns to BPA with this graphic that is on the side of the boxes of bananas at the grocery store. According to his signature his name is Bobby Banana. This is very similar but slightly different to Bobby's last appearance in pin form, where he is peeling himself while skating.

The Snack Artist

"Ramped Up" Zesty Ranch tortilla chips spotted but not purchased at Safeway.

Color Wonder

I spotted this while walking through Target (I think). This kid painted a pretty sweet skateboarding octopus on the cover. He's wearing a helmet but no tentacle pads.

Freezies Gigantes

This skateboarding alligator is featured on a Freezies Gigantes package found on the streets of Ypsilanti, MI. He looks pretty satisfied with his artificially flavored vanilla freezie pop while cruising to some tunes. I've never been a fan of the skateboarding with headphones fad that has swept over today's youth. I certainly enjoy a good boombox on the side of the bowl though.

Risketos

This bag of Risketos comes via Matt of Smash! Records, a connoisseur of all savory snack foods. Risketos are made in Spain and are similar to Cheetos. Instead of a cheese-fueled tiger mascot they have personified Risketos. Normally I'm all for the anthropomorphization of food but these things are weird. Maybe it's because they don't have legs so they end up looking like Mr. Hanky. The skater grabs top billing here along with the lesser demographics of girl on cellphone and thumbs-up dude with headphones.

Coolcuts

Carrots get pretty extreme when you add some ranch dip. The latest triathlon craze: home run derby, skateboarding and diving.

Tootsie Pop

Tootsie Pops date back to the '30s and their wrappers have changed a bit over the years. At some point in the '60s or '70s they added and updated some of the characters, which included adding the skateboarders. The wrappers have remained virtually unchanged since then. The skaters are located across and slightly down from the coveted Native American shooting a star (which supposedly gave you good luck or a free bag of candy) but was really just as likely as any other graphic. Everyone knew that the skaters were the real good luck charm.

Nerds II

Although Nerds boxes have gone through multiple incarnations, they have had a skater on the cover as far back as I can remember. After I made the first Nerds post on BPA I wanted to pick up a box to scan in but was dismayed to find that the packaging had been updated (I did stumble across a Surf & Turf version that had a skater). I kept an eye out for the older box in dollar stores thinking they might have old candy but was unsuccessful. I finally ran across this unopened box in my parent's pantry, the final resting place of all sorts of candy. There is some promo covering most of the Nerds but they knew to leave the skater untouched. I'm not sure if this is a winning box or not but the winning entry had to be post marked before the end of 2004 so I can't claim it anyway. Details on the back state that there were 5 grand prizes worth $5,000 each, 150 first prizes worth $200 and 1,000,001 second prizes worth $1.10.

Grāpple

Grāpples are apples that have been injected with grape flavor for some reason. Judging by the tag line there is some sort of demand for crunchy grapes. I did not buy these but I imagine they just taste like grape jolly ranchers. Their mascot looks like a poor man's Grape Ape (of Hanna Barbara fame) who enjoys a variety of extreme activities (including surfing, skating and snowboarding). Here he has donned his bike helmet and elbow pads to kickturn halfway up a quarterpipe.

Chester Cheetah

Chester Cheetah is pushing hard and looking for a fix. My coworker is also addicted to cheese flavored snacks which is how I scored this 1 ounce bag. He's rocking his trademark sunglasses and huge white kicks and has also donned the proper protective gear for skating through a barrage of Cheetos.

Surf & Turf Nerds

Surf & Turf Nerds feature a surf flavor (totally tropical punch) and a turf flavor (road rash raspberry) as well as a silhouette of a skater and surfer. I would've much rather have seen the Nerds themselves skating and surfing. Nerds were previously featured here on BPA as a skating figure/container.

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.

GoGo Squeez

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

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!"

Coastal Cooler

I came across this extreme marketing while hurricane shopping (I only ended up buying a skateboarding parachutist but that is a story for a later post). I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a girl or just early '90s Tony Hawk. Also of note: 25% less sugar is the opposite of extreme.

Bamba

I found this snack while walking down the natural foods aisle in my local grocery store. It's made in Israel, where babies learn to skate while still in diapers. The snacks themselves taste like peanut flavored cheese puffs (which sounds gross but was actually pretty good).