Today we're taking a break from Batman! I do have more Batman collectibles but they're in the queue waiting to be photographed, which may take a couple of weeks. In any case, Sunday's have evolved into a comic themed day here at 'Toys & Stuff' and today we have somewhat of a comic derivative - an M&Ms candy dispenser. There are a lot of people like me who simply cannot stand to watch television commercials. They are loud, obnoxious, and usually just plain stupid and 90% of the time, I take the remote and hit 'Mute'. But not always. There are some commercial franchises that are so well done, so creative and funny that often times they're better than the program I'm watching. The Mars M&Ms commercials fall into that category. While M&Ms have been around since 1941, the cartoon characters didn't make their television debut until 1954. Since then the cast of characters have grown to win international fame and just this past year a whole new variety has been introduced to the M&M line - M&Ms with pretzel. Each of the characters, simply referred to by their color, has a distinct personality:
- Yellow is an all-round goofy kind of nice guy who likes the ladies and often times finds himself in unusual predicaments
- Green. In the candy world she's a babe - and she knows it! Candy at its sexiest.
- Blue, is a cool, confident ladies man
- Orange is the paranoid in the group always looking both ways and over his shoulder. He thinks everyone is out to get him. He might be right!
There are a couple of real neat M&Ms websites I came across. One of the neat things is they offer desktop wallpaper downloads:
Now, on to the toy. This was an exclusive available only in military exchanges this past Christmas season and made by CandyRific, a company specializing in novelty confectionery products. Its a terrific M&Ms dispenser with plenty of action. First of all it's modeled after the Jeep military utility vehicle and has functioning rolling wheels. Blue is driving the Jeep and Red is the passenger. While they're both wearing camouflaged headgear you can tell red is in charge - blue is wearing a simple utility cap while Red is wearing the Garrison, or 'Bus Driver's, cap. Red has his right arm raised and is holding a faux American flag. When you lower his arm several things happen; the Jeep makes a 'vroooom' sound., the headlights blink on-&-off, and a spring actuated mechanism drops M&Ms into a pan beneath the front end of the Jeep. The pan slides out so that you can retrieve the candy. Lifting the hood reveals a chamber wherein the candies are loaded. It also reveals Yellow - stuck underneath the hood - in a jam yet again! The Jeep is peppered with graphics and even the hubcaps are designed to resemble M&Ms. It's a fun dispenser and about as 'cartoony' a toy as one could get. Enjoy!
