S-42
Diamond Select- The Muppets: Animal.
I just remembered that in my last few Muppets reviews I never mentioned either their band name or the band names of the two I once played in. Of course we all know the importance of a good band name and I had often brainstormed a number of cool ones over the years and while they may not have been as memorable as “The Electric Mayhem”, which is a perfect name considering the members, they did stick for both bands. I found the first name in the back of an old National Geographic magazine when looking for stuff to cut out for an art project. The ad was for an all boys military school in Virginia that still exists today called Fork Union. I’m not sure why it caught my attention or why the other guys liked it, but I suppose it was unique, somewhat ironic given that as a group we were the furthest from what could be considered acceptable students for a military academy and the name/initials could be shortened to simply FU. If I can find it I will post a picture of the sticker we produced with a 5 tooth fork flipping the bird.
The second band’s name came from an old TV game show called Press Your Luck. The contestants would press a button that would randomize a light on a game board that would either light up a prize amount or a “Whammie”; a little furry gremlin thing that would make them lose their turn. Invariably the contestants would always yellout “No Whammies, no whammies, BIG MONEY, NO WHAMMIES!?!?” and it just kind of stuck with me: No Whammies”. I suppose that it was a bit derivative of other groups that we were into at the time (NOFX and No Use For A Name) but Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery right? Apparently it had a second meaning that I didn’t really love, which was that we didn’t use whammy bars in our sound. For me this was a bit on the nose as yes, we didn’t use them, but this wasn’t some line we drew in the sand saying we didn’t like them or anything. Outside of an indie CD I don’t have much kicking around for merch and for some reason we didn’t even design a symbol to plaster on a T Shirt or sticker.
Pros: Of the Muppets series, I knew that Animal was going to be the most difficult to track down, but thankfully one of my local comic stores had one in stock which was completely shocking given that I NEVER find anything at that particular store. I think of the band, Animal could be my favorite. He has a great sculpt, a lot of decent articulation and ability to pose along with an entire drum kit. Pretty cool stuff.
Cons: I kind of wish that the drum kit was a bit more stable as its difficult to set everything up without knocking other stuff over.
