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Thursday, March 01, 2012

Aqua-Tot by Sonic

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Never in the history of the Shrine has one Aquaman-related item generated more emails than Sonic's line of Justice League "Tots"--small, stuffed tater-tot shaped representations of DC characters.

Sonic started releasing these a couple of weeks ago, and during that time when we were posting all Mera-related stuff, I must have received no less than two dozen separate emails from Aqua-Fans asking if I had seen them. Kind of amazing, really!

As a couple of those emails pointed out, it's an interesting line-up of characters represented: Plastic Man, Hawkgirl, and Bizarro, but not Batman or Green Lantern? Not to mention Aquaman of course--but at this point I think it's less and less surprising that the Sea King is involved in these nationwide merchandising campaigns, due to his rising popularity inside the world of comics and his rising reputation outside the world of comics.

Almost all of those who wrote in were already members of F.O.A.M., but two dedicated Aqua-Fans weren't, so let's welcome newest F.O.A.M.ers Ben Avery and Joe Ehman for alerting the Shrine to these babies' existence. Thanks Ben and Joe, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!

10 comments:

Anthony said...

I'm more surprised there's a separate Clark Kent "tot" myself... ("hey kids, it's Superman...'s secret identity!" "Oh boy, I can't wait for the Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince ones!" ;-) )

(Unrelated, but seen a few pictures online of Aquaman present for Superman's birthday celebrations today (Leap Day!)...one fan-made as part of a small group of action figures, another an original cartoon by an artist from "DC Super Friends"...)

Diabolu Frank said...

Sonic isn't exactly as a-list fast food establishment. You figure bigger chains tied up the Green Lantern license on 2011, and will demand Batman in 2012. Once you remove the Batman family as an option, leaning on the Superman line and Justice League mainstays makes sense. Also, Aquaman's a lot more merchandising friendly without a beard and harpoon hand. Not, for instance, the lack of Green Arrow.

By the way, I bought two kid's meals, and all I got were trading cards. Do I have to pay extra for the dolls? Can I get my pick then? Anyone want to trade the supposedly rare Superman vs. Bizarro motion card for a Martian Manhunter one?

rob! said...

Wow, Frank, I hadn't considered that--I bet you're right about why there are no Bat-characters or GL.

Wings1295 said...

First time seeing these! Very cute!

Earth 2 Chris said...

My daughter got a Bizarro last week. I had to ask for these, and the girl said they were trying to get through their old toys first. So if you don't get them, ask. I don't think Sonic goes through kids meals like McDonalds.

Chris

Designer Daddy said...

At first glance I wondered how Wolverine ended up in the mix of DC characters. Turns out it was Hawkgirl. :)

aquaman said...

Sonic is kinda known for their "Tots". They have done many characters over time. As far as Sonic NOT being an A list fast food they are ranked about 14 in the nation. Here is a quote from 2009..."Sonic operates and franchises the largest chain of drive-in restaurants in the United States. As of August 31, 2009, the Sonic system was comprised of 3,544 drive-ins", so bigger even now. Far from small. I think its nice to not have Batman WW and Sups dominating the field all the time. I have my Aquaman Tot on his way as we speak!

r duncan said...

Our local Sonic gets new shipments on Sundays. The manager seems to be a fellow geek and was willing to look through the box for Aquaman tots. He said I got the last 2. I bought those 2 Aquamans and 2 packs of cards ($2 each) and he threw in an extra pack. (Other employees haven't been as cooperative, so I've taken what I could get.)

There are 8 cards in a pack-14 cards total-so I had 2 nearly complete sets on day one. (Still missing one of the 3-D motion cards. To Frank, the MM card is cool. It features him phasing through a wall. Another motion card shows Clark K becoming Superman. The Hawkgirl motion card shows her flying over a city. Pretty good lenticular motion effect.)

I've got 2 Aquatots, 2 Flashtots, 2Supertots, 1 Hawkgirl, 1 Bizarro, but I've since given away 1 Aqua, Bizarro and 1 Supertot.

Randy said...

I got my Aquaman tot a couple days ago. Real cute. I'll try to get some pics online soon.

El Ka-Bong! said...

I love the shrine. I saw this in the morning and by lunch time I had an Aquaman tot. I felt bad because it seemed like my demand for Aquaman caused 4 employees to dig through boxes of toys to find it. They were super nice about it though. As my wife said to me after I returned "Kyle, what would you do without the Aquaman Shrine? You wouldn't have even known the Aqua-tot existed." This is very true. So, thank you to everyone and Rob for sending in and posting this story.