Two Coyotes

I have, in general, been more of a Disney girl through the years. The movies and cartoon shows are endlessly magical to me and I never tire of them. However, I do have a definite fondness for some Looney Tunes characters and have sometimes enjoyed the cartoons, although mostly I prefer the sweeter and cuter books to the often sadistic and mean-spirited cartoon romps. The books are hilarious and adorable, with plots such as Bugs and Porky investigating a haunted house, Bugs’ birthday, Bugs and Elmer making a carrot machine, and the Road Runner family (yes, it’s a family in the books) visiting Wile E. Coyote when he’s sick and saying “We’ll be happy when you’re more snappy!”

I have also always had a tendency to root for the underdogs and some of my favorite characters are Wile E., Sylvester, and Elmer. On the other hand, I also like Bugs and probably prefer him to Daffy since even though I understand Daffy’s jealousy and feel he was mistreated by the writers and other characters, it didn’t justify him trying to murder Bugs. My other favorite is Porky. In the books I like Petunia and always wondered why she didn’t appear much, if at all, in the cartoons.

Elmer and Wile E. are probably my top favorites. I have two Wile E. plushies, and the acquiring of each is a story.

In my church, people are baptized when they’re old enough to understand the principles instead of being baptized as infants. It’s always a big deal and a grand celebration for the ones being baptized. Many kids are baptized around age 8. I was too, and it was an amazing and beautiful and spiritual day. I received several lovely gifts, some religious and a few monetary. I ended up with $25, more money than I’d likely ever seen as mine in my short life up to that point. I wanted to celebrate, and for an 8-year-old toy-loving kid in the 90s, that meant Toys R Us!

As I recall, we went to the Toys R Us that was arguably the closest to us at that time, in a fancy shopping center on the East Side. After looking around a while, I found one of the most glorious things for me at that point in my life: a two-foot (or more) Wile E. plush! This was November 5th, 1994 and a very good time to be a Looney Tunes fan. The cartoons played on ABC every Saturday. Figures and plushies were common in stores. I had hoped to find some merch, but I had never dreamed of anything so big!

It was a whole plush line, in fact. I want to say there were at least four in the line, but I can only remember Wile E., Bugs, and Sylvester for sure. I cannot remember the fourth. There was only one plush of Wile E., and he had no price tag. I believe the others in the line were $24.99, so I could have squeaked by getting him at that price. But with no tag, we took him to Customer Service to find out how much he cost. It seemed like ages we waited and waited. At one point the clerks played around with Wile E. and Sylvester. Finally they brought the incredible news: he was $12.99! Perhaps he was on Clearance? Or perhaps they were just being kind to a little kid who clearly wanted him badly. In any case, starry-eyed me immediately bought him and he sat beside me in the car on the way home.

Here he is. Isn’t he wonderful?

I always wondered why the hair tuft was black instead of the accurate brown, but that is such a minor thing. It never mattered to me.

I eventually fell out of love with the cartoons because I really do not like body horror and finally stopped trying to pretend I found it funny. But I still loved the characters and Wile E. has always been special to me.

Flash forward to last week. I saw a Wile E. plush in the back of a claw machine at Smith’s. This one is very small, but he’s smiling adorably and I was attracted enough that I decided to try to get him. This was a very foolish decision, as claw machines, of course, are notorious for not working right for people and my one other attempt to get something from one as a kid ended with me in tears because it didn’t work. This time, I tried five times and failed to get Wile E. There was another plush in front, so the claw couldn’t seem to really get a tight enough grip. I thought of removing that plush and trying again, but I couldn’t get the claw around the other plush. I gave up.

This week, I found the plushies had been rearranged and Wile E. was in front! Well, that was enough encouragement to try again, so I stuck four more quarters in the slot and attempted to get the claw to behave. And ... it actually did. I would have liked to have seen my expression of shock and happiness as it gripped Wile E. tight enough to lift him up and moved back towards the opening. I was tense, wondering if something would still go wrong. It seemed too amazing a thing to happen to me. But then, incredibly, it dropped him down the reward slot and he was mine!

This one is made by Toy Factory, a company that does prizes for machines and carnivals. They have a lot of Pokemon plush. I wondered if their Eevees weren’t furry, because they don’t really look it. But maybe they actually are and just have very short, fine fur like my new Wile E.

Here is a size comparison of the two.

I also wanted to show the tails. While the new one’s is arguably more accurate, it’s just a strip of cloth! My childhood plush’s tail is fully three-dimensional.

After actually having some success at a claw machine, it makes me want to try on occasion to see if I can get any other characters I like from them. I saw a Bugs I’d like to try for two towns away, if he’s still available. We shall see.

Let's Talk About Encanto Merch

Well, Disney got back to me. One email, which seems to be a form email, tells me how to return merch. The second one is more personalized but may also really be a form letter. They are sorry for the mishap and are sending a replacement! This message says to donate the original item to charity. I suppose it's the second one I should consider as the one to follow, instead of the first? I don't know that I will actually donate the first Luisa, though. When she's messed up, why would I want to donate that to some poor kid who probably doesn't have many nice things anyway? I would probably be more likely to try reselling her on Mercari and see if some collector wants her despite the flaw. I suppose whichever I do, I will hang onto her until the second one comes. For all I know, it won't be much better. I've heard horror stories where people are sent two or three replacements and none of them are right.

Regardless, I am very grateful they answered kindly and are trying to fix the problem! I was really hoping they would feel that way about it despite the return window being closed.

So let's talk about my Encanto doll set. Here they are deboxed! Aren't they wonderful?

I can't believe I never really noticed all the theme details to Pepa's attire before. I saw the sun earrings, but didn't really grasp the sun collar or the raindrop dress. Look at the little lightning bolts on the hem! Her shoes are sun pattern too. And she's so cute! I love all the little freckles and her long braid.

Camilo also has a theme thing going on. See all the chameleons on his poncho? I love it! Of course, I imagine most fans have already picked out all those little details and I'm the odd one out just catching up.

Felix fascinates me. I have never seen a doll with his body type before. He is very hefty.

Dolores seems to be identical to the individual Dolores that was released last year. At first I didn't think there was anything relating to her gift depicted, but now it looks like I see soundwaves on her dress. Cool!

Antonio is indeed different. Side by side, you can see the new one doesn't have any hair touching his forehead and his eyes are lighter. After looking at pictures, it seems to be the first one who is more accurate.

In spite of those minor differences, all of them look like they just stepped out of the movie screen!

All dolls have the basic articulation of shoulders and legs and neck. And oddly, Camilo alone has a different type of "skin" on his arms that's rubbery and feels a litle more like actual skin. The others all have normal hard plastic.

I still don't know what I will do with the duplicate Dolores. Perhaps I will try to sell her in a lot with the first Luisa plush? When the Antonios are so different, I rather think I will keep both of them, probably.

Behind the family, you can see a 4 inch Princess Peach figure. I found her at Walmart! Apparently they finally at long last re-released her! I am so thrilled to at last have her to put with the guys. I will give her her own post later.

Ahsoka and Luisa plush

Among my lovely birthday offerings, I picked up the Ahsoka plush and the Luisa plush. I was so stoked for both of them, I had to buy immediately and not wait for a sale. That was unfortunately a mistake, as had I waited, I could have got Ahsoka on free shipping several days later. And Luisa, well ...

First, here is the lovely Ahsoka. She is perfect! I have seen several Ahsoka plush and none have struck me as much as this one. Despite being for the live-action series, her expression captures everything we love about the original version. She looks much happier here than she ever does in the live-action.

Luisa is gorgeous, but there is a glaring difference between her and Disney's advertising. Here is a link to Disney's page for her. See the stock photo? Luisa is depicted as most human plush are made, looking straight-on. There is an image of a kid holding her where the head seems turned a little, but not really that much.

Then, the actual product.

Um....

This is completely different from the advertising! It's apparently not defective, as I found someone on eBay selling one that looks the same. (Unless a whole batch was affected, but since one picture on Disney's site shows a very slightly turned head, I doubt it.) Disney is advertising this plush as looking straight-on when she's just not.

Honestly, it's unique. And I'm not as disappointed today as I was last night. I was actually considering trying to sell her, since the return window has passed. But I probably won't. I am, however, still disappointed enough that I wonder if I'll really get any of the other Encanto plush, even on sale. (I probably still will.) I wonder if I should still complain to Disney anyway, even though the return window has passed. Since she was a gift, I naturally hadn't opened the box until yesterday.

(Update: I did contact Disney. This is just preposterous. We'll see if they have any mercy. I want a replacement, not a refund, so maybe ...)

Okay, aside from that jarring experience, let's look at the positive. Both these plush are incredibly soft. The skin "fur" is almost velvety or minky to the touch. It's paradise. They're also very huggable. I held both while watching the Ahsoka season finale. And of course, the details are top of the line. Disney doesn't skimp on those. Ahsoka's vest even feels suede-like! And Luisa's attire even includes her knee-length underwear as seen in Surface Pressure!

One thing I'm not sure whether is good or bad is that the legs are stiffer. It's not as easy to sit them down as it was before. I rather like being able to do that with my Frozen and Cinderella plush.

In any case, I'm thoroughly thrilled with Ahsoka but am still unsure what I think of Luisa due to the strangeness of how her head is turned in contrast to what I thought I was getting.