You can own the very first Roger Rabbit doll ever made! (Sort of)

If you've been around for a while, maybe you remember a particular post about the origins of the rabbit plush portraying Roger Rabbit in the original cover of "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" (the one with Gary K. Wolf portraying Eddie Valiant), which was commissioned by Gary Wolf himself to a japanese company named Kamar.

It seems that, luckily for us, that rabbit wasn't the only one made from those patterns.

If you go to this eBay link, you can find a facsimile of the first Roger Rabbit plush ever made from the same company that made the original one. It's logical to think Kamar got some extra mileage from these original patterns and sold the rabbit in mass quantities, so why don't you give it a look? Maybe you can give him a new home and get some part of Roger Rabbit's history ;)

Again, the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-1980s-Kamar-Rabbit-Made-in-Japan-Roger-Rabbit-/271680394841?pt=Stuffed_Animals_US&hash=item3f4169d659

How Gary K. Wolf became a male model – A.K.A. The origins of the first Roger Rabbit EVER

This giant rabbit plush looks like your average giant rabbit plush, right? Well, take a second look at him: this handsome fella is, in fact, THE ORIGINAL Roger Rabbit.

Yup: this giant rabbit plush is the first accurate portrayal of Roger Rabbit as a character, based of course in the description of him wrote by Gary K. Wolf, author of “Who Censored Roger Rabbit” and the whole Toontown concept.

Do you wonder who’s the owner of this particular rabbit? If your answer is Gary K. Wolf, you’re absolutely right!

In fact, he was kind to share with us the origin of the first Roger Rabbit ever, which is in fact tied to the very origins of “Who Censored Roger Rabbit” and his own characterization as Eddie Valiant in the first cover of the novel.

Let’s allow Gary speak for himself:

How I Became A Male Model

I published the first Roger Rabbit novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, in 1981.

The publisher asked me for a book jacket photo for the inside back flap.

For my science fiction novels I had done a variety of poses. The kinds of poses writers were doing back then. Me out in the woods looking ethereal in long hair, long scruffy beard, and a turtleneck sweater. Me wearing a cowboy hat, bush jacket, and my military medals. Me slouching insolently against an alley wall wearing my leather Air Force flight jacket, white T-shirt, and shabby blue jeans.

For the Roger Rabbit novel I wanted something different, something more in keeping with the premise of the book.

I arranged for a toy company called Kamar to do me up a rabbit based on my description of Roger in the book.

I put that toy rabbit into a trench coat. I wore what Eddie Valiant wore, a shirt, tie, trench coat and period hat.

We shot the photo looking at me over Roger’s shoulder.

The hardest part of the photo shoot was holding the lighted cigarette. This was way before we could add that effect with Photoshop. We had to do the action for real. I’m not a smoker. I kept coughing because the smoke was drifting up my nose.

I sent the picture, which was black and white, to the publisher.
They got very excited. They said the pose would be perfect for the book jacket.

They hand tinted the picture to give the scene a period look.

They used the photo on the cover of the book.

The flap jacket copy says “The detective on the book’s jacket is portrayed by Mr. Wolf.”

I was a very happy guy.

Doubleday brought out a hard cover book club edition.

They changed that edition to an all-artwork cover. They drew Eddie Valiant as I had described him in the book, a craggy, clean-shaven, Robert Stack-type.

Except they didn’t change the flap jacket copy. That still said “The detective on the book’s jacket is portrayed by Mr. Wolf.” Which of course it wasn’t. Not even close.

When I do autographings, I still get copies of that book to sign. The owner always looks at the cover then looks at me suspiciously. I can tell they suspect I’m an imposter.

I do always draw a beard on that artwork Eddie after I sign one of those book club editions. That brings him a little closer to me.

We continued the Censored tradition with Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? Once again, the detective on the book’s jacket is portrayed by Mr. Wolf.

As an interesting sidelight, ever since the Wacked cover got released, I’ve been getting calls from Abercrombie & Fitch. They want me to be the cover boy on their next catalog. I’m gonna decline. They want me to take off my shirt, pull down my pants, and show my underwear.

I’m sorry.

I’m just not that kind of guy.

At least not anymore.

You can find more of Gary’s anecdotes and memories (as well as some wonderful and funny ramblings) on his own blog and his Facebook wall.

Thanks again for sharing this history with us, Gary! Of course, you and Roger look as great as ever =D

Another cute Roger Rabbit custom doll

Jarrod from ImNotBad.com sent me several weeks ago this pic featuring a cute, one-of-a-kind Roger Rabbit doll sewn by a very talented person who used to work for Disney some time ago. She won’t be sewing another one, but you can get some inspiration from this cute doll and sew/cobble/commission your own.

It would be awesome if she decides to sew Jessica, Baby Herman or Benny the Car, but even if she doesn’t this incredible Roger doll is enough proof of her abilities and love for Roger =3

Thanks for the awesome find, Jarrod! =)

Coolest Roger Rabbit plushie ever

Usually at eBay you can find the most common Roger Rabbit collectibles, and once in a while there appears some of the rarest items related to the zany rabbit.

But I’ve never seen nothing as cute and awesome as this:

According to the description of this plushie, his height is about 15 inches and it’s fully poseable (arms, legs, ears and hands). It’s an item from Tokyo Disneyland and it looks like new, and if you ask me is the most faithful rendition of Roger Rabbit in a plushie I’ve ever seen =)

You can bid on this one clicking on the next link:

Disney Tokyo Disneyland Toontown Roger Rabbit Poseable Plush

(US bidders only; sadly the seller doesn’t ship internationally)

Another Roger Rabbit crochet doll

Roger Rabbit by ~Skullcreator on deviantART

This lovely crochet doll was created by Skullcreator, from DeviantART. Great work there!! =D

Who Restored Roger Rabbit?

Some months ago, I grabbed from a flea market a very played with Roger Rabbit doll. He was lacking his trademark bow, his fur and clothing had some rips and tears, and some seams were starting to come out. In other words: the doll was in poor shape, and someone else would had toss him into the garbage bin. But not me!  =D

Here’s the poor little guy. Not collectible anymore, huh? Well, I’m here to perform an extreme makeover on this doll! The first thing I did was to get rid of all those loose threads in order to fix his damaged pants and fur. Also I fixed those seams that were giving up because all those years of negligence on him.

Now, it’s time to give his pants a new set of yellow buttons. They were glued over the suspenders, since the fabric of his pants was so damaged it couldn’t hold the seams required to attach the buttons.

In the same fashion, I also glued his bow over the neck. This little fella was starting to look again as Roger Rabbit, but I had to stop this project for a while since I didn’t have the rest of the materials I needed for finishing him. 

I forgot about Roger for a couple of months (because I was very busy / lazy to get all the stuff I needed for this project). He started to look a little dusty, so I gave him a well-deserved bubble bath:

He was looking so pristine, that I decided to go ahead with the project and finally got the much-needed whiskers and a cute, little loose tooth for his mouth. Also, I fixed some seams that came out after the bath.

Since I couldn’t find a new set of eyes for him, I printed him a new pair of blue eyes and covered them with plastic adhesive film. Then, I glued them over the damaged eyes, and TADA!!!!

Look at those little blue eyes… They are so cute and lovely!!

And that’s the end of this story. Of course, I need to get some yellow vinyl dots for his tie but I can say this project is finally done!

As you can see, this is not properly a tutorial. My intention was to show you fellas how can you give a second chance to a damaged doll. All you need is a little love and patience (since I didn’t spend more than a couple of bucks for getting all the stuff I needed). After all, Roger deserves it <3

Prince Roger Rabbit

And so, Prince Roger Rabbit wanders through the entire Kingdom, in the search of the true owner of the glass slipper, the girl he loves from the bottom of his heart… His “Cinderella” <3

Well… Maybe he’s searching for the wrong girl, since Jessica wears ruby-red stilettos! And that glass slipper is anything but red:

But that’s okay, since he’s just pretending to be Prince Phillip XD

Custom Roger doll

Check out this neat creation I came across.
Not just any custom RR doll, but a KNITTED custom doll.

Three years living with Roger Rabbit

Yup. I’ve been living three exact years with this little fella (maybe you remember the last year’s entry about my second anniversary with him) and very little has changed since that day.

Or at least, I think so.

Let’s see: Roger gained some much-needed whiskers and his loose tooth, so he isn’t your average Roger Rabbit plush doll anymore. What did I gain? Perhaps several pounds and a lot of knowledge about Roger Rabbit himself, everything related to him and of course the real life outside the rabbit hole.

I’ve had a lot of good stuff and great experiences with Roger. Also some bad stuff came when I couldn’t take control of my emotions, and I hurted him. There are several weird stories too, that are actually funny. But what I really remember with such joy and emotion, was the previous encounter I had with this Roger Rabbit doll before getting him.

At that time, I wasn’t so interested in the rabbit. In fact, knew little about him since the last time I saw him, back in my childhood days. I was collecting another stuff, and my interests were focused to some little spunky, red-haired girl that smells like strawberries. But some day, at the flea market. I spotted him. He was hanging on a grid display, among some other plush dolls and collectibles. Despite my limited knowledge, I recognized him and couldn’t avoid but smile and giggle. He looked really really funny, with his big blue eyes staring at me. A sudden blast of nostalgia caught me, but as soon as it came, it disappeared. I was in fact searching for another doll, so I smiled at Roger for the last time, and said goodbye to him.

Never thought I would bring him to home two weeks later!! (thanks, of course, to the broadcast of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” on Mexican Disney Channel).

Since January 25th. 2007, Roger Rabbit has been part of my life. Today, January 25th, 2010, Roger Rabbit is still part of my life.

And I love him a lot <3

Jeepers!! That’s a HUGE rabbit! – Part Deux

The same day Toontown Antics got into its first anniversary, my huge Roger Rabbit plush doll finally arrived home:

   Yup: I added him some whiskers =3

(Sat him in the chair for giving you an idea of his size =D)

Jeepers!! That’s a HUGE rabbit!

 

Commissioned a life-sized Roger Rabbit doll several months ago and it’s finally done! Still don’t have it at home (this pictures were sent to me by the person who made the doll) but the rabbit it’s HUGE and it’s totally hand-made. This person also makes Sackboys (from the PS3 hit “Little Big Planet”) and several custom dolls that you can see in her online catalog.

So, do you like him? I can’t wait to bring him at home, he’s so huggable! =3

All my rabbits =3

My rather huge Roger Rabbit plush doll collection. A couple of them are still mint, while the rest are in well-loved condition. I reconstructed a couple of them since they were virtually in pieces and as you can see, some of the rabbits were customized to fit certain themes. Of course, there’s Jessica too =3

You can show us your collection too! P-p-p-p-please, send your pics to my e-mail address and I’ll publish them in our blog! Don’t worry if you have few Roger Rabbit-related collectibles: we will be really p-p-p-p-p-pleased of watching them!! =D

Roger Rabbit, M.D.

Roger Rabbit, M.D. by ~bunnyfriend on deviantART

It’s not lupus, huh-huh!! =3

My angel became real

My angel became real - Custom by ~bunnyfriend on deviantART

Of course, that custom doll is based on this illustration =3

About a baking bear and a very old duck

Today I got another walking Bimbo bear like the one I got some months ago. What makes him different is that he really comes complete, still holding his trademark bread loaf and sporting his ear tag. But like the other one, he’s supposed to walk and dance… Although he didn’t. Maybe is because his age. Anyway it’s OK to me, since the odds of finding one of those bears in complete condition are very, very low, and I got this one for just a couple of dollars! =D

Also I found a very interesting toy:

He’s a vintage plastic Donald Duck doll, perhaps from the 60’s or 70’s, which I got for less than a dollar. Even when he looks very played-with (with some scuffs, stains and even cracks in the neck joint) and his clothes are very worn and faded, I really love him. It seems to me like if some kid (maybe he’s now a full-fledged adult) enjoyed playing with him a lot and had a lot of fun doing it, which adds some sweetness to his smile. Now he comes to me for having a second chance, and I won’t turn this little fella down. Donald deserves to get some love again =3

Huge collection update (and I mean it)

Long time no see you, guys! Since the latest news concerning to Roger Rabbit, I haven’t found more info about the proposed sequel (or prequel, or whatever it is) for “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. Instead, I’ve found a lot of interesting things for my collection, which I want to share with all of you:

Eddie Valiant, Roger Rabbit and Judge Doom vintage action figures

Easter Thumper Plush Doll

I recently fell in love with Thumper, from the Bambi and Bambi II movies. After all, he’s Roger Rabbit’s uncle =3

The most cute thing about this plushie, is that he’s dressed… As the Easter bunny! How sweet, a bunny dressed up as a bunny:

Now, about my other finds…

 Huge Thumper Plush; push his hand and he plays a sweet tune

 Thumper Beanie Doll and Sam (official mascot from the 1984 Olympic Games, held in Los Angeles, USA) Little Plush Doll

 Another Roger Rabbit Vinyl Figurine

And one awesome find I’m very proud of:

 Optimus Prime, as a cool Dodge Ram SRT-10, from the Transformers Alternators series

And that’s all of my latest finds in toy stores, thrift stores and flea markets. Sure I spend a lot of money getting all those items, but I’m a compulsive shopper and, well, I can’t help it ;)

Honey Bunny

Honey Bunny - Custom by ~bunnyfriend on deviantART

P-p-p-p-please, take a look to my most recent work of restoration!! It involves a very beaten Roger Rabbit doll, some skills… And a lot of love and kisses (literally) X3

Just click on the image or the link below the image =D

An old friend’s comeback

Once upon a time, I bought online a very worn out Roger Rabbit plush doll. He looked OK in the pictures, so I purchased it. When I got him one month after (since the seller sent him to me thru regular mail, instead of using a fast delivery service), he wasn’t so good looking at all. Roger was a little damaged and perhaps some child played lots with him, but what really caught my attention about him was his smile. His beautiful, cheery smile. I fell in love of him immediately.

Half year ago, I was very annoyed since I had some argument with one of my co-workers, and when I arrived home the first thing I saw was that smiling Roger doll. I couldn’t stand his sweet smile, so I threw him to the floor, stepped hard on him several times, kicked him and finally I torn him apart in several pieces. When I realized what have I done, it was too late: he was “dead”. I picked up all the pieces and threw them inside a plastic bag, for discarding that poor plushie doll later. But I never did. I kept all the pieces.

Yesterday I decided it was time to bring back my old, severed friend from “death”. With my poor sewing skills (and lots of glue, by the way) I gave him another chance to live:

I hadn’t the heart for taking pictures of him before the process. But he was really torn apart: his head, his ears, his arms, his legs and torso, and his clothes were absolutely destroyed. But he was still smiling. Maybe that was the reason that lead me to reconstruct him. I made a little comparative about how he looked before the incident, and how does he look now:

Of course, I am not proud of what I’ve done in the past. In fact, I had a lot of regrets for destroying this little smiling doll. But I hope this help to heal all those wounds and leaving the past where it belongs. Because, after all, Roger still has that sweet smile I love =3

Whiskers

If you have had (or maybe you still have) a Roger Rabbit plush doll, you can notice that probably he lacks two important features: his long whiskers, and his trademark front tooth. Since I had some spare time this past weekend, I decided to work on my own Roger Rabbit plush doll (better said, my favorite one) for giving him those facial features, and this is the final result:

How does Roger look now? I’d like to know what do you think! =3

More new bunnies

Today I got this Roger Rabbit lot, which includes:

A vinyl figurine

 A little plush with suction cups (his eyes are yellowed by Sun exposition, but the rest is OK and the suction cups still work)

 
And a mint Roger Rabbit plush doll, just like the one I got severely damaged some time ago; his fur is still soft and puffy =3

And so, my rabbit family keeps growing <3