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Japanese Felix The Cat
 September 15, 2008 6:00 pm
Have you seen these Japanese super-deformed Felix mini PVC figures? These look way off model to me. The manufacturer, Organic Hobby, has created some fantastic Tezuka figures that respect the orginals… but these are painful. (Thanks, Jupey Krusho) |
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The third one from the right, top row, looks like Sonic the Hedgehog. The one to its right is very DragonBall Z.
Matthew – I think you are right. I hadn’t looked at these from that perspective. Perhaps they are all caricatures of other famous cartoon characters. Can anyone else recognize the others??
That devil one on the bott right looks familiar too. There’s no shortage of ‘tude in that collection.
…You mean Ferix, don’t you :-)
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Sonic the Hedgehog was indeed influenced by Felix the Cat.
Personally I think those are pretty neat. Off-model isn’t necessarily the same thing as bad.
bottom row, third to the right……astro boy maybe? the eyes and pose remind me of astro boy.
I agree, fluffy. Lots of officially licensed toys are made off-model, and I think it makes them more interesting. It also makes them cheaper.
So will Felix wear red tennis shoes, run really fast, and fight a more evil version of The Professor who captures all the woodland creatures ala Sonic The Hedgehog?
I would’ve said that the upper-right Felix was modeled after Shadow the Hedgehog. The lower-right Felix reminds me of Beelzemon from the third series of Digimon.
I would honestly not mind having the second one on the top sitting in my studio……… provided I had a studio.
I wouldn’t mind having all of these figures. I am certain the Matthew Hunter/Jerry Beck hypothesis is correct and that these Felixes are all caricatures/parodies of other cartoon characters.
I, for one, would really like to know which cartoon characters are being targeted. It seems very likely that Matthew Hunter is correct in his guess that the figure second from the right in the top row is based on Sonic the Hedgehog and that the rightmost in that row is a character (possibly Vegeta) from Dragonball Z. I think that this is more likely than Daniel J. Drazen’s suggestion of Shadow the Hedgehog. The pose is the iconic Dragonball Z “powerup pose”. Unless Shadow habitually posed in the same way, I think he can be ruled out.
An important question in this trivial pursuit is whether or not these are all based on anime characters or not. My guess would be yes, based on nothing much. Having said that, the Felix on the upper left originally reminded me of Boris Badenov, based on the expression and the Homburg hat shaped head. Upon looking at images of Boris online, however, I don’t think the resemblance is very close.
I guess we will never know unless a Japanese cartoon brew reader decides to weigh in.
Jerry- The Tezuka figures, while looking more like the the originals than the Felix Bunch- are like a pre-school version, akin to the Fisher-Price Super Friends brand, where even the villains look nice!
Jerry, I’m sure you’re aware of this, but Tezuka used and reused characters like his own repritory company, sometimes they would play a good guy, other series they would play a villain-It would be great if somebody came out with an actors set- each listing all the different characters they have been used to portray. I bet someone in Japan has done this…
Top right = Devilman?
That’s not Dragonball, It’s Devilman:
http://digilander.libero.it/supergoku2000/devilman12.jpg
I see a Doraemon and Arale likenesses in the second row…
The Sonic The Hedgehog look-alike music be Speed Racer not Sonic. look at the pashmina on his neck.
seems they are based on old anime characters….
And the 7th one looks like a cat from Disney’s Alice Comedys.
And #2 looks like a Jim Tyer angry Felix- circa 1958!
And is #8 Meowth?
From here: http://www.hlj.com/product/ORG02146?nav=rss
“Closing in on his 100th birthday, Felix the Cat has metamorphosed over the years, from being angular-bodied in silent films of the 1910s, to much more rounded and cute by the time of his 1950s TV exploits, and on into recent times. Now here’s a modern new take on the famed feline: a planned 100 different varieties, from designer Shirou Nakano!”
While I certainly can’t identify the inspiration for all of these, the unusual designs are definitely intentional.
haha, these are funny! i’ve started to enjoy new takes on old characters just for playing around.
The Top right one looks like Shadow the Hedgehog the nemesis of Sonic. The one to the left does seem like Speed Racer!
…..as inventive as some of them are….I am not a fan.
P