by Lennon “LJ The Toy Addict” George
Ok cruising back to the 80’s cartoons here is an oldie but goodie. How many of you remember those furry little humanoid bears with pom-poms on their tails that could turn themselves into soccer balls, basketballs, or just regular bright colored balls? Yes I’m talking about none other than those cute, but mischievous Popples.
For those of you that are sitting there looking at the screen like what the hell are Popples let me give you some brief details. The Popples were a very popular toy made by Mattel and sold from 1986 until 1988. The idea for transforming the Popple is rumored to supposedly came from rolling and balling up socks. Those Characters From Cleveland (TCFC), a subsidiary of American Greetings are responsible for creating these adorable characters. TCFC employee Susan Trental, working hand and hand with art director Thomas Schnider, created the first prototype for the Popples.
The toys looked like teddy bears mixed with rabbits or some kind of marsupial with bushy little pom pom tipped tails. They also had pouches on their backs that could be flipped inside out allowing them to curl up into what resembles a bright colored ball. Originally there were nine Popples:
· Pretty Cool: A large male with blue fur, pink hair, one orange ear and one yellow ear.
· Party: A large female with pink fur, hot pink hair, one lavender ear and one pink ear.
· Pancake: A large female with purple fur, hot pink hair, one blue ear and one pink ear.
· Puzzle: A medium sized male with orange fur, green hair, one blue ear and one red ear.
· Prize: A medium sized female with dark magenta fur, white hair, one green ear and one pink ear.
· Puffball: A medium sized female with white fur, yellow hair, one blue ear and one magenta ear.
· Pretty Bit: A small female with lavender fur, hot pink hair, one pink ear and one blue ear.
· Potato Chip: A small female with yellow fur, pink hair, one lavender ear and one magenta ear.
· Putter: A small male with green fur, orange hair, one red ear and one blue ear.
The second wave brought the Rock Star and Baby Popples. The Rock Star Popples consisted of Punkity-a girl Popple with microphone and star on her belly and Punkster- a boy Popple with guitar and lighting on his belly. There were also two babies. Cribsy was a pink Popple and wore a white and blue hat, bib, and booties and Bibsy was a white Popple that wore a purple and white hat, bib, and booties with stars. The babies had rattles on the ends of their tails and came with a squeaky baby bottle. An extension line brought us the Pufflings pretty much little Popple pets that were basically a ball of fluff with a face, tiny paws, and a tail. They also flipped inside out, but they came with riddles and jokes on tags inside of them. There were six colors of Pufflings: red, yellow, sky blue, purple, white, and magenta.
As the line became popular Sports Popples were created, they were pretty much self-explanatory Popples that turn into sports balls. There was Big Kick the soccer ball, Dunker the basketball, Touchdown the football, PC Pitcher the baseball, and Net Set the tennis ball. There were also Sports Popples whom didn’t get a toy version like Cuester the 8-Ball and the original Pitcher whom was replaced by PC dressed in a baseball outfit. Many other variants were created throughout the years such as Flower Popples, Pillow Popples, Fruit Popples, and Special Limited Edition Animal Popples only released in Europe, and Costume Popples that wore special outfits and transformed into a related item (Ex: Ballerina Popple turns into a handbag).
Playmates Toys tried to revive the line back in 2007 releasing four characters, (Happy Popp, Pretty Popp, Kissy Popp, and Monster Popp), under the name 'Popp n Giggles Popples’ which contained a speakerbox that makes a popping sound followed by a giggle when the Popple comes out of its pouch (or when pressed down on the shoulders while sitting in box or on a hard surface. Other things such as “Keychain” and “Cell Phone Charm” mini Popples were only released over seas in countries like Japan. A comic book series was also released from Star Comics (a Marvel owned company) based on the cartoon series. Five issues were created, but only four issues have been published.
Now that we have covered the toy line let’s talk toons. The original series aired from 1986 to 1987. The pilot was a live-action special starring Shelley Duvall. Puppets and marionette versions of the Popples were used. After the show was well received the cartoon series was developed with the same original characters. DIC Entertainment and LBS Communications in association with The Maltese Companies produced the series. In the cartoon series the Popples pulled all kinds of large items out of their pouches to get them out of the trouble they have caused. We as the viewers knew the stuff they pulled out couldn’t fit inside of their pouches. It is said that the items came from hammer-space; in “Popples Alley”, one of the Popples’ human friends looked inside of one of the Popples pouches and saw tons of objects floating around in a void. The original 9 lived with brother and sister Billy and Bonnie Wagner. They are the only ones to have Popples until a family moves in next-door with kids (Mike & Penny) who have Popples of their own (the Rock Star and Baby Popples).
The Popples tend to mess everything up the kids are trying to do for example if the kids are brushing their teeth the Popples mess up the bathroom spraying water and squirting toothpaste everywhere. Or if the kids need to clean there room the Popples will mess it up worse than it already is. Fortunately the Popples use the items inside of their pouches to help clean up everything and get things back to normal. This was the only cartoon TV show to not have villains yet still be entertaining to the audience. A new TV series is set to be released as a Netflix original series later this year (see EW's coverage). If you are looking for Popples merchandise such as DVD’s and toys you can still find it online at places like Amazon and eBay as well as private sellers.
I’m glad that the Popples are making a come back I use to own a few of them as a kid. It is awesome to see my childhood coming back to life right before my eyes. My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Pound Puppies, Care Bears, aw man! I wonder if shows like Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, Rainbow Brite, Jem, Cabbage Patch Kids and Teddy Ruxspin will make a comeback in the future as well. Wouldn’t be awesome if new versions of the Go-Bots and The Wuzzles (we will talk about them next week) came back to TV? Man now that would be epic!
Well I’m going to watch a few episodes of the Popples so I can get ready for the new series (going to have to renew my Netflix account before it airs). Take a minute to show us some love on our social networks, we love to chat and see what’s new in your collection so share with us. Until next time Go Hard! Go Fast! Go Figure!
Editor's Note: We predict to see interesting figures arise up from this re-boot.
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