By Ed Sum (The Minion Addict)
Unless you have been living under a rock or cave, the Minions are invading the planet! That is, from grocery to big box stores, there are more than toy products. While I was out shopping this past month, I saw General Mills Minions cereal, licensed boxers from Despicable Me 2 and Chinese knock-offs at the gift shop in Chinatown. These adorable yellow puff n’ stuffs might also be set to invade the television screen too. Well, if a series is in development, Illumination Entertainment is not telling but I will not be surprised. These single-celled organisms have one simple goal: serve someone evil and show they are not inept. There’s no better strategy than to appear anywhere so they tell everyone they are willing to help!
I discovered webpages dedicated to showing the capsules that come inside the Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs make for the perfect shape to create your own Minions. There are video tutorials out there which serve as a guide, and I can see how much of a family fun project this can be for all those Kinder loving collectors out there. I did not realize how deep the mania has gone for these capsule shaped guys until I started looking for an online catalog showing “all 11” toys.
The unboxing ceremony of an individual foiled set shows the odds to getting a complete set. I find that in the three sealed boxes I picked up, with three eggs inside, the odds were roughly one in three to find the toys. I’ll probably go back to Wal-Mart to buy three more to see if I can nail a set, and any duplicates I have, I’ll donate to Cherry Bomb Toys to sell off to Kinder collectors and I may head to Oh Sugar to pick up another prepackaged box to see what my odds are for more Minions should my attempt be fruitless. The last time I went to this candy store, I ended up feeling disappointed to find that Kinder’s Penguins of Madagascar release included non Penguins toys. It was either that, or regular Kinder eggs were mixed in to the box claiming Penguins would be found.
At another candy store I visited, I found other Minion toys. I have Kevin flying a plane in his attempt to keep me cool during the Summer months. The candy bananas hidden in the back make for a nice treat that had me shouting, “Banana!” for the rest of the day.
I’m still thinking about finishing my collection of action figures by ThinkWay Toys but sadly the figures I need are no longer being produced and I’m against paying super inflated collector prices on eBay just to finish collections. The thrill is in what I can find at thrift stores and retail outlets who just happened to have found a box that didn’t make it to the shelves.
Okay, I’ve become more Minion-obsessed than Penguins only because I firmly believe the birds have finally flown the coup. Ever since the fact that there’s been a noticeable a lack of merchandise (at least in my home town) leading up to the DreamWorks film about this covert-ops team, I think whoever was behind marketing was not behind supporting them 100%. Perhaps the birds were living on borrowed time. I haven’t found any new DVD releases of the television show. After the movie, there’s been no word about these birds’ return. Are they biding their time until Minion-mania fades? I’m willing to support both!
While Despicablememinions.net is by no means a comprehensive catalog of everything that’s out there Minion related, it’s doing a good job of showing how far these critters have entered pop culture.
