Like every other company in a position to license out some character, show or concept, Nick had a booth at the 2005 Licensing Show, so our entire group was granted access. I trekked on down during the afternoon hours, and the event is best described as a cross between the annual Toy Fair and E3 conventions -- Toy Fair because it's mostly to do with toys, E3 because the companies really amp up the theatrics. "Booths" is a very loose term, as the Javits Center was crammed with everything from a house-sized Pikachu balloon to Rowdy Roddy Piper. I mostly went on the promise of getting much swag from the various exhibitors -- a big giant lie. There was NO swag, unless you count branded paper bags and branded paper folders as such. There were, however, many costumed characters, a lot of great sights, and generally enough reasons for me to assume nobody at the office would notice if I stayed there for an hour or two longer than I was supposed to....
It's hard to explain the scope of the show, but basically you've got all of these companies pushing their "properties" for potential merchandising. Unlike Toy Fair, the emphasis isn't so much on the specific products, but rather the brands themselves. So, we're not going to find out which Ninja Turtles toys are the coolest, only that Ninja Turtles are cool, if that makes sense. But with due love to my employing company, the best booth by far belonged to New Line Cinema. They've got their mitts on the licenses for Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and other classic horror franchises, and...well, this is how they presented it:
Jason Voorhees himself! Well, not really, but it's a screen-worn costume -- except for the mask. The guy in the costume was suitably huge, totally in character, totally waving a machete and totally willing to take as many pictures as I demanded. I love Jason. I later spotted my hero at Snapple's booth, bargaining for a free sample of their new brand of ice pops. Really.
REPLIES: 53 comments
Heh, Jason drinks Snapple.
Chestnuts roasted by gramsci @ 06/21/2005 11:10 PM EST
oh, I so want that Optimus Prime
Chestnuts roasted by Joe in OH @ 06/21/2005 11:12 PM EST
Oh, that has absolutely made my night. Thanks for being our eyes. Too bad you didn't get any loot. When I was a kid, my dad would go to industry conventions and bring me back the coolest stuff. As time passed, the "surprises" he brought back started becoming things like the TV Guide from whatever city he'd been in (special because it wasn't OUR TV market.) I'm completely serious. And this seems like it would be the best for cool little junky giveaways. I'm a sucker for anything with a logo on it. Seriously.
Chestnuts roasted by Lori @ 06/21/2005 11:36 PM EST
The peeps car is SO awesome, and so is the pikachu balloon. The giant fairly oddparents are more terrifying than Jason, but that chick inbetween them is super hot.
P.S. Snapple makes ice pops now? Jones soda popsicles are really good, but i wish they came in more than 3 flavors.
Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 06/21/2005 11:41 PM EST
Not a huge fan of Johnny Depp, but I saw Finding Neverland and was quite moved. Worth seeing.
Returned it tonight and bought Bookies. Please pick up a copy, it seems they have the entire production run sitting in the used bin.
Rachael Leigh Cook, Johnny Galecki, Nick Stahl, and Lukas Haas = The Superteam you never thought of.
Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 06/22/2005 12:01 AM EST
Ooooooooooooooh.....system overload. If I were you, I would have hand-cuffed myself to the "house of horror" and refused to leave unless Jason promised to be your friend forever...and then when they said yes, I still wouldn't have left.
Chestnuts roasted by Road Block @ 06/22/2005 12:07 AM EST
Someone says "licensing", I instantly think "Garfield", since Jim Davis is, after all, about 3% cartoonist and 97% merch whore and his lame excuse for a comic strip (unlike the strip in that link, which is so far beyond awesome it's a wonder it's not a controlled substance) is nothing more than a vehicle to sell corny merchandise.
So what I'm saying in a roundabout way is "You went to a licensing con? What, no Garfield?"
Orson still rocks everyone's world, though.
Chestnuts roasted by Monster Dog @ 06/22/2005 12:22 AM EST
Love the F13th house. I'm going down to the horror convention in south jersey in august which will be sweet.
Chestnuts roasted by Modern Day Pirates @ 06/22/2005 12:29 AM EST
yayness pikachu!
Chestnuts roasted by pikachulover @ 06/22/2005 01:02 AM EST
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper? You've got to be kidding me! Did you tell him how much his alley fight scene in They Live rocked your world?
Chestnuts roasted by Review the World @ 06/22/2005 01:23 AM EST
The Smurfs still live? Since when?
Chestnuts roasted by RewolfJ @ 06/22/2005 01:27 AM EST
dude, wow. that looks like a great way to kill a week, much less a couple of hours.
I wonder what the price tag was on that Jason mask!?! And it looks like the edge of a Freddy mask right next to it!
Licensing Show...huh. Who woulda thought?
Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 06/22/2005 02:11 AM EST
Is it just me,or would that Meow Mix Mobile be an interesting thing to ride around in?
Chestnuts roasted by Overlord @ 06/22/2005 02:29 AM EST
For some reason this made me think of the first album to be COMPLETELY commercially licensed which was Play by Moby. No joke.
Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 06/22/2005 05:00 AM EST
BTW....does Piper have a really bad combover or does the picture just make it look that way??
Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 06/22/2005 05:46 AM EST
sorry to post again but I must say that is one fine lady standing in between the characters from Fairly Odd Parents. It looks as though the dude with green hair's hand is a little too close to her butt...or were those just statues?
Chestnuts roasted by phunqsauce @ 06/22/2005 05:52 AM EST
The PEEPS car is all the justification that is needed to stay away from the office just a little longer.
REWOLFJ-I liked your assessment on that sitcom article. That guy thinks sarcasm=brilliant writing but your addition to the list was a sinful omission on his part. Well done.
Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 06/22/2005 08:23 AM EST
I too noticed the chick between the Fairly Odd Parents. Nice. I'm diggin' the ol' Meow Mix Mobile. I always thought it'd be cool to drive one of those types of vehicles around (a la Oscar Mayer Weenie Mobile). Too bad about the no swag (I call it schwag...it's more fun to say...go ahead...try it...SCHWAG). Still a good way to kill some time during work.
Chestnuts roasted by bad karma @ 06/22/2005 08:47 AM EST
Dont know where to post this but I think it should be here... Like The Thrills said "What Happened to Corey Haim", here it is:
http://www.pulse24.com/Showbiz/Top_Story/20050418-002/page.asp
Way to go Haim, stay on that wagon.
Chestnuts roasted by maladjusted @ 06/22/2005 08:56 AM EST
Couple of notes on the pics...
The "Meow Mix" car was fronted by Meow Mix workers trying to get people to sing the "meow meow meow" ad jingle. The original jingle itself played on repeat at a higher volume than anything else I've ever heard -- so anyone in the front lobby of Javits is now, even today, even next week, still humming the "meow meow meow" song.
To the one who asked: Yes, Snapple is making ice pops -- they were handing out samples. Seem to be the simple, small, plastic-wrapped freezer section variety, but the people I was with liked 'em.
The Smurfs are on their way back -- and I think under our big Viacom umbrella, actually. Hopefully I'll get to write a spot for whatever toys they come out with, someday.
Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 06/22/2005 09:37 AM EST
Everytime I hear the "Meow Mix" jingle, I think of the time Homer was telepathically sending it to Bart in the courtroom.
Forgive me for being off topic but these are 2 must sees for STAR WARS fans regarding some of the franchises' misfires.
http://www.forbes.com/home/infoimaging/2005/05/11/cx_de_0511starflops.html
http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/
Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 06/22/2005 09:41 AM EST
Off-Topic: Celebrtiy Deathmatch is returning. Yeah.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050620/en_nm/television_mtv2_dc_1
I didn't know Meow Mix had a mascot. Just the Jingle.
Corey Haim was on the VH1 100 Child Stars countdown last week. Vh1 will replay it endlessly so it should be easy to catch.
Smurfs returning? Cool. Now all we need is the return of the Pound Puppies and I think every important 80's property will have been brought back.
Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 06/22/2005 09:59 AM EST
Some people I work with were at the licensing show. I wish the company had sent me. That looks pretty cool. Oh well, maybe next year.
Chestnuts roasted by monkey face @ 06/22/2005 10:14 AM EST
Smurfs are still big here (Canada). I just bought the wife (again, Canada 
) an entire line-up of soccer (excuse me, "football" playing smurf figurines and, for myself, a pink and red devil smurf. You can even buy their little mushroom houses and cars.
Who wouldn't give Jason a free Snapple pop? Well, okay, I might make him do the ch-ch-ch-ch-ha-ha-ha-ha thing first, but still -- that's practically free.
Chestnuts roasted by Molten @ 06/22/2005 10:45 AM EST
Matt,
This looks like it was LOADS of fun!! I love the Meow Mix and Peep cars...By the way, are they bringing back The Smurfs with new merchandise??
Keep up the great work!
Chestnuts roasted by Melissa Y. @ 06/22/2005 01:16 PM EST
STREET-RACIN' PEEPMOBILE!!!!!
WOOOOOOOO!!!
In the meantime, Matt is trying to figure out how to abscond with the haunted house and setting it up in his apartmanent.
Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 06/22/2005 03:02 PM EST
Off-topic post...
For those of you who are TV buffs like me, I just wanted to make sure you were aware that Nick at Nite is airing network primetime lineups from 1985 tonight and tomorrow night in honor of their 20th anniversary. Last night was ABC's Tuesday night (complete with an episode of Growing Pains in which Jason Seaver wore a Members Only jacket in every scene he was in. I was in heaven.) Tonight is NBC's...something. I don't remember. But Silver Spoons is on and I remember that was NBC. Tomorrow night is the gem that I anxiously await...NBC Thursday! The beginning of Must-See TV (when it was actually true!)
I have to admit, I felt old last night when I went to put I couldn't remember the channel number of Nickelodeon. That used to be burned on my brain! [sigh...]
Chestnuts roasted by Lori (proud child of the Tartikoff era) @ 06/22/2005 03:22 PM EST
Oh man, I'm two months from turning 23 and I went nuts for that huge Pikachu 
He's the real old school shit, not like that little poseur Pichu. Fuck him.
I'm a little biased, I stopped catching the little bastards after Gold/Silver on the Game Boy Color. What's that? I can forget about those imaginiary monsters I wasted hours of my life on to raise and train, and now I can start over from scratch? I don't think so.
That House of Horror thing looks sweet. I'm not a huge horror movie fan but I'd love to spend half and hour in there. Nice presentation.
Speaking of "horror" movies, I saw Jason X for the first time last night on the SciFi Channel. They could have changed Jason to some nondescript alien creature and I would have sworn it was a made-for-TV, SciFi Channel Original (I apologize in advance to anyone who loves the movie).
But I laughed my ass off at the Holodeck, sleeping bag death scene. That was great 
It makes me feel betetr to know the people behind the movie knew they were making campy trash.
Chestnuts roasted by Night_Trekker @ 06/22/2005 05:30 PM EST
Okay, for those interested (i.e. no-one):
#27 The Cure did make it, but with The Head on the Door not Disintegration.
#50 New Order, Low-Life. There ya go Matt!!
Nice little Q&A with Dave Grohl as well. Currently adorning my wall.
KingofKings, I wasn't aware getting the girl made you suddenly not-Emo. Personally, I think it makes you moreso. But I'm not going to waste post space to debate the meaning of Emo with ya =)
I waste too much of it already.
Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 06/22/2005 05:46 PM EST
Emo Phillips?
Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 06/22/2005 06:15 PM EST
Sadly, I'm not getting that reference, but still laughing at it anyway.
I was addressing KingOfKings, specifically, not you Kingklash, but you probably know that.
Thanks for the laugh!
I have to go feed my emo now...
Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 06/22/2005 06:32 PM EST
Oh hey, its that guy who was on Dr. Katz!!
I'm a little slow on the uptake.
Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 06/22/2005 06:37 PM EST
If KingOfKings is the King of Kings then is he the King of kingklash? I always thought of kingklash as self governing.
Chestnuts roasted by Gabbylicious @ 06/22/2005 06:39 PM EST
hey Night_Trekker, I read what you wrote the other day, you are totally right about Big Lots! That place rocks for getting just-barely-out-of-date cereals and cookies. I got so many boxes of The Phantom Menace cereal when those were going out of style. I also stocked up on a bunch of The Simpsons cereal, I think they were Homer-O's or some shit.
I love Big Lots. My g/f used to work there, and we got a 20% discount on everything. Just imagine, 20% off of the Big Lot's cheap ass prices made for some super cheap screamin' dealz! I found a GI Joe Locust helicopter there for $4.99, that was killer!
Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 06/22/2005 06:55 PM EST
Re: Lemon-Lime: Agreed, that one sucks.
Chestnuts roasted by Greg @ 06/22/2005 09:53 PM EST
Heh, thanks Manimal, people usually get annoyed when I criticize things.
I enjoy Lemon Lime on rare occaisions. It's not very good, but it tastes exactly like yellow/green gummy worms, and I love gummy worms.
Chestnuts roasted by RewolfJ @ 06/22/2005 10:10 PM EST
Does that Meow Mix car run on birds? (yes that was corny, but that's the best i can come up with)
I did see that child star countdown. I had no idea Jason Bateman was in Silver Spoons, interesting. Maybe Rick Schroeder will guest star on Arrested Development someday..
Chestnuts roasted by mjf7583 @ 06/22/2005 11:28 PM EST
Actually JLAJRC Pound Puppies did return. I saw some for sale at a Kmart a few months ago. I think this newest incarnation is made by Mattel
Chestnuts roasted by pikachulover @ 06/23/2005 12:57 AM EST
Reminds me of E3 Los angeles! good stuff!.....that jason blows btw!
Chestnuts roasted by Evil Ash @ 06/23/2005 03:53 AM EST
When are you going to do an article on the great bluedini?
Chestnuts roasted by Blue Eagle @ 06/23/2005 05:23 AM EST
I can't even stomach peeps, but that car is hillarious.
Interesting thing about Snapple Ice Pops:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8321110
Matt, maybe you can pass by Union Square and get stuck to the pavement.
Chestnuts roasted by Mad Cow @ 06/23/2005 08:10 AM EST
The best part about Viacom (since Matt mentioned Viacom) is that giant purple V.
I cannot understand why the purple V is scary. I think its a cool logo.
Chestnuts roasted by Ekkostar @ 06/23/2005 08:26 AM EST
I have a taping of rudolph from 1987 or 8 and it is just loaded with commercials you can review. A pound puppies commercial and some other good ones.
if you want a copy email me at freakyzipcode@yahoo.com
Chestnuts roasted by freakyzipcode @ 06/23/2005 08:37 AM EST
That giant Smurf will forever haunt my dreams. Jason Vorhees is cool, but Rowdy Roddy Piper?! Snapple is made for the happiest people on earth, and Jason likes to off the happiest people on earth. Folks, I see a connection here.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 06/23/2005 10:21 AM EST
I still am interning at CBS-3 (CBS is owned by Viacom)! Talk about 6 Degrees of Separation from Matt!!!!
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 06/23/2005 10:23 AM EST
Overlord, that car is pretty cool.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 06/23/2005 10:24 AM EST
MATT- Jesus, did you TALK to Piper?? I would love to meet him....well, any wrestler, really. Closest I got was being front row at an event when I was ten and Bret "the Hitman" Hart (my Favorite wrestler of all time) HELD my hand for a moment....ahhh. Memories.
Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 06/23/2005 12:22 PM EST
smurfs and jason vorhees- hot!
Chestnuts roasted by danoslayer @ 06/23/2005 04:25 PM EST
Hmph. Pikachu and Pokemon. Matt, it bodes well for you and the others that I was not permitted to attend this licensing show.
I see now why the annoying, brain-melting demon Nintendo unleashed has yet to die and rot ... I must attend the next licensing show ... some how ... and burn anything that is Pokemon to prevent its license from being used any more. My calling is revealed!!!!!1111oneone ...
(No, I don't really think Pokemon is "demonic" ... I'm atheist and I hate christians ... I just ... HATE ... pokemon.)
Chestnuts roasted by Lucifer Selaachi @ 06/23/2005 04:41 PM EST
Monster Dog, Garfield was indeed represented with a good-sized booth dedicated to everything Jim Davis.
Chestnuts roasted by Brian @ 06/23/2005 05:44 PM EST
Ah to be Cosmo and Wanda! Great articles as always. Thanks!
Chestnuts roasted by HennyLO @ 06/23/2005 07:56 PM EST
Man, I hate horror movies, and I STILL thought that "Tower of Terror" display was awesome.
Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 06/23/2005 10:02 PM EST
Thanks for these great pics! It's good to see the Smurfs are making an appearance and hopefully the rumoured smurf movie will happen. Smurf merchandise hit Australian shores big style in June 2005 so hopefully the rest of the world will follow suit soon!
Chestnuts roasted by Kitty's Cavern @ 07/03/2005 07:24 AM EST
