After my recent article about Chuck E. Cheese and its tokens, I got a little nostalgic. Tokens are awesome and all, but I wanted to express my nostalgia by picking up something more in-line with my toy interests. There were a number of plush toys produced as prizes for the restaurants, but I avoid collecting old plush toys at all costs. There's something about an old plush toy that's gross, like its stuffing has absorbed all the grime and snot and drool from its previous owner. No stuffed animals for me. But there was a line of PVC figures and hey, you can't go wrong with mini-figures. Let's start with the main mouse himself, Chuck E. Cheese!
This design represents my Chuck E. Cheese, the derby-wearing stage performer from the 80's instead of the "extreme sports" persona that Chuck adopted in the mid 90's. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of PVC figures related to the good old days of Chuck E. Cheese, but there are just enough to fill up a band of 5 singers: Chuck, Jasper T. Jowls, Mr. Munch, Helen Henny, and Pasqually. It's not quite the same as collecting the full-scale robo-band, but it will have to do.
Pics
9 comments:
Not sure if I'm getting this right.
But we only had Showbiz Pizza around here when I was a kid. And specifically remember when they renamed them all Chuck E Cheese's back in the 90's. The Showbiz theme song pretty much stayed the same, except they just switched out Showbiz Pizza with Chuck E. Cheese on the commercials.
I remember a few good times there, specifically the Robotronic Bands, which were at least half awesome, as only half ever worked most of the time. :D I don't recall ever getting any trinkets from any of my visits. But do recall riding in the little trains and on the airplanes. And Skiball.
Now these little PVC figures are something i would love to get a hold of and like you the Chuck shown is the one of my youth too.
Also i met a girl once that had the Robotic drummer(name of the drummer escapes me at the moment)in her living room.
@URS: I believe that Showbiz Pizza was bought out by Chuck E. Cheese... or the other way around. Either way, all Showbiz Pizzas were converted to Chuck E. Cheese eventually.
@jboypacman: I think Pasqually was the drummer in the band, although I only remember him playing the accordion.
Those robots are really cool, but having one of them in my house would be kind of creepy. I'd imagine it coming to life at night or something. O_O
I imagine that maybe the robots were different between the two franchises for a time. I can't say, as I never have been to a Chuck E cheese in particular.
Believe it or not, I have never been to a Chuck E. Cheese(or Showbiz Pizza for that matter), but I always wanted to. I remember the commercials, and that is the Chuck E. I remember. PVC figures are sturdy and will last a good long time, and yours looks practically brand new. Nice!!
@URS: Yeah, it looks like they had two different casts:
* Chuck E. Cheese characters
* Showbiz Pizza characters
I've never seen the Showbiz Pizza show, but the characters look like they have better sculpts (if that term applies to robots) than the Chuck E. Cheese robots.
Yep, don't recognize any of those CEC characters except the man himself.
I fondly remember all the SBP guys though. And I see what your saying about sculpts. More streamlined character designs. They focused on a foam rubber style mask for each bot, where as CEC guys were like Robo-Muppets.
Growing up I always preferred Showbiz over Chuck E. Cheese. You could just tell that the band was more into it. Every show I could feel their emotion, versus Chuck E. Cheese where they were just phoning it in.
Then I moved to West Texas and they didn't have either of those pizza places. Instead they had a place called Pistol Pete's. I was not very interested in trying them until a friend had a birthday party there, so I walk in and low and behold, the Showbiz band had left their previous gig to be the headliners at Pistol Pete's! Those were fun times.
That's my Chuck E.! When I was a kid Chuck E. Cheese's was located in a strip mall along with Toys R Us. It was like having Disney World right in my hometown!
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