Part 1 – Part 2
On Wednesday I showed you some strange and wonderful Sesame Street toys from Japan, made by the Chara Hiroba company. Today I’m going to show you some more, starting with these:
You know, I’ve long wished top hats would come back in style, and I feel pretty confident that Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster are the fashion trendsetters who could make it happen. Also, note their bold choice of hats and bow ties without tuxedos, and in fact, without any shirts or pants at all.
Next: As Big Bird awoke one morning from uneasy dreams…
Here we have Elmo as a butterfly, which seems appropriate enough, and Big Bird as a bee, which is fine… But Cookie Monster as a ladybug? I don’t quite get it. I see him more as a praying mantis or a daddy longlegs. Still, he’s overjoyed to be an insect, as is Elmo. Big Bird, on the other hand, is more contemplative, perhaps concerned with the sudden realization that bees don’t eat birdseed.
This is from the time the Sesame Street Muppets went to a furry convention. (And of course, they wore their bow ties.)
Here we have our familiar threesome as angels up in heaven, watching over humanity from their post near the famous Heavenly Sprigs of Parsley. Part of me wonders if Chara Hiroba made these toys because they were running short on dye. (“Aw, heck, let’s just put wings on ’em and call them angels!”)
The most miraculous thing about these toys: They got Cookie Monster’s neck right! So many toy incarnations of Cookie feature a round head atop a pear-shaped body, which is just not what he looks like. But here, his tapers into his body exactly as it should. This might just be the most accurate representation of Cookie Monster’s neck I’ve ever seen, and you can quote me on that.
A word of warning before I go onto the next photo: For the die-hard old-school Sesame fans, this may be a horrible, horrible nightmare come to life.
If there were just four more Elmos, he could be the happiest jury of all time.
Ernie’s mouth hangs open in shock as he beholds the sight of his Rubber Duckie grown to gigantic proportions! He stares out at us, as if to say, “How did this happen?!”
I want these on my head.
I want these on my feet.
I would love to see an episode of Sesame Street where Elmo and Cookie Monster race around the Hawaiian islands on giant bananas. It would be very educational.
Elmo had so much fun at the furry convention, he went back the next year. So, from left to right, Elmo is a bear, a cat, and… another cat?
Two monsters, just chillin’, up in the clouds. I wonder why Big Bird’s not with them this time. Gosh, I hope he didn’t fall off his cloud… I’m pretty sure that bird don’t fly.
I don’t know about you, but I always carry around miniature versions of my friends so I don’t forget what they look like. So does Elmo:
Two Elmos, both in need of a beard & moustache trimmer. One holds a doll of Cookie Monster, the other holds a doll of… caramel-flavored Cookie Monster? At least they’re both wearing Cookie’s trademark bow tie.
That’s it for this parade of playthings. Now, who wants to join me on a trip to Japan?
Click here to express your deep, burning desire for a Cookie Monster witch hat on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
