by Phil Arnold
elvisblog.netreader who makes a submission to every Caption Contest. She is Jean Pyle from Hawthorne, New Jersey, and her ideas are quite unique. She finds a few lines of lyrics from an Elvis song that fit the picture. Or, more frequently, she changes the lyrics a bit to work even better.
I have grumbled here before about small Elvis toys, dolls, figurines, etc, thatdo not look like Elvis. Of course, I understand the difficulty of reproducing the features of a familiar face on a one inch glob of plastic. However, I keep hoping someone will pull it off – hoping they will meet what might be called the tiny Elvis-head challenge.
So, I had great expectations when an e-mail newsletter came in from Elvis.com/news announcing a new Christmas gift item -- Elvis Presley Bobbleheads from Funko . I clicked on the link to shopElvis.com, and saw that there were six of them. The small photos of each looked somewhat promising.
I'm a knockout in the fun department.
The first two celebrated the "Classic 50s Elvis” and the "68 Special Elvis.” When I zoomed in on their pictures, this is what I got:
So, what do you think? I think 50s Elvis is better than 68 Elvis because of the hair and the smile – a little touch of the famous Elvis lip curl. Both would have been improved with blue eyes and smaller eyebrows. 68 Elvis looks like he has two black caterpillars resting on his forehead.
Next came “Nodniks,” which I had never heard of, but the promo said they are the next big thing with young collectors.
I loved how he looked on the 68' Comeback special!! The Black leather was awesome!! For sound i would have to say that I love his 70's music better than the 50's. All the 50s songs repeated themselves over and over. I like the 70s when he I personally think he made his best music!Well, they certainly did a good job on the eyes of Aloha Elvis and Jailhouse Elvis, but the marshmallow-shaped head just doesn’t work for me. In spite of that, ShopElvis proclaims, “this will be one of the hottest Nodniks ever introduced.” Obviously, I am not in the demographic they target for these.
The last three bobbleheads were “Jailhouse Rock Elvis,” “Elvis Wacky Wobbler Bobble Car,” and “Aloha from Hawaii Elvis.”
Aloha Elvis is pretty weak, but the other two are okay. Jailhouse Rock Elvis certainly has captured the look of Elvis’ hair. But, with the gold lamé coat and the pink Cadillac, Bobble Car Elvis strikes my fancy best. I am also struck with the thought that Elvis probably holds the world’s record for collectible items depicting its subject in a prison uniform.
ShopElvis.com also offers one other Elvis bobblehead, but in this case the whole body bobbles, not just the head. Here is the Dashboard Elvis Wobbler:
I wish this one was a little bit more realistic. The hair looks like a football helmet, but the sunglasses and Aloha American eagle jumpsuit make it clear that this little guy is Elvis.
Next, I decided to check out Elvis figurine Christmas ornaments to see how their tiny Elvis-heads compared against the Bobbleheads. It may not be a fair comparison, because their heads were only one-third the size, making the challenge so much more difficult. Here are the face close-ups for “68 Comeback,” “Live in Las Vegas,” and “Christmas Gold Lame” ornaments:
I’m sorry, but the latter two just don’t cut it for me. However, considering that the 68 Comeback face is done on about one-half inch of blown glass, they did a pretty good job on that one. Next we have “Red Jumpsuit,” Viva Las Vegas,” and “Silver Jacket.”
It’s time to start over on “Viva Las Vegas Elvis,” but the other two aren’t too bad. Say, how come there is no Jailhouse Rock Christmas ornament? Maybe next year.
So, we have a few items that do fairly well in the tiny Elvis-head challenge. There is one other Christmas item that definitely does not. Below is the “Elvis Black Mini Nutcracker.
Let’s get real. If the base didn’t have the word Elvis on it, would you have any idea this was an Elvis collectible? That face not only doesn’t look like Elvis, it looks like some kind of evil mutant anti-Santa.
To end this article on a high note, I want to show my favorite little Elvis collectible.
As you can see, it is the Jumpsuit Elvis Pez dispenser. It’s got the hair and sideburns right, and the high jumpsuit collar helps. The nose and mouth are on the money, and the sunglasses perfect the look. Jumpsuit Elvis Pez was part of a three-part set, but young Elvis and Army Elvis didn’t look much like him, so I threw them away.
Jumpsuit Elvis Pez sits on my desk and inspires me each time as I write these blogs. It is still my champ of the tiny Elvis-head challenge.
Phil ArnoldUsername: elvisblog
Full Name: Phil Arnold
Personal:Phil Arnold
159 Browning Dr
Greer, SC 29650
US
About MeI never met ElvisPresley; never even saw him in concert. But, I do have one genuine connection with Elvis.
I was in the 8th grade when Elvis burst on the scene. All through my high school years, one Elvis hit after another took over the music charts. I bought every new Elvis 45, played them for endless hours in my room, and danced to them at dozens of parties. Elvis changed everything -- music, hair styles, fashion, attitude -- and I was there for every bit of it.
The connection with Elvis waned after my college years. Marriage, career, and the changes in Rock & Roll music in the late 60s and 70s pretty much pushed Elvis into a forgotten corner of my consciousness.
During the mid-eighties, I started collecting old record albums and recording the favorite songs of my youth on tape. Those wonderful old Elvis albums of the late 50s and early 60s rekindled my interest in the King, and this led to a desire to write about Elvis. A few years later, my first submission to the magazine Elvis International Forum (now Elvis...The Magazine) was accepted. Soon my work would appear in every issue. In 1999, Editor/Publisher Darwin Lamm made me a Contributing Editor. In total, my articles have appeared in Elvis...the Magazine 39 times.
In February 2005, I launched ELVISBLOG, the first internet blog devoted to Elvis Presley. My goal was to write short articles I knew other Elvis fans would enjoy. Every Sunday I post a new commentary about Elvis news, history, and all the other cool stuff in Elvisworld.
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