Hi! (self-intro)

[datadox]

Hello everybody,

Thanks to those who have responded to my Petunia Pig question.

I guess a short self-intro is in order here.
My name's Tristan Lapoussiere and I live in France. Although my research interests primarily lie with comics and illustration art, I've always been an animation fan. Some of you (hi David G.!) know me from the DCML, from which I've been "brilliantly absent" since not long after I joined it, but a computer crash at the time prevented me from following through, and I've been swamped with work ever since.

Early this year, I've become involved with a publication put out by Editions Atlas here in France. It's a collection of 60 Looney Tunes figurines, each sold with a 16-page booklet. I'm in charge of coordinating and, most of the time writing these. Each issue deals with the antics and history of the character whose figurine comes with it, and some of them are not so easy to put together, especially when they're about a character who has appeared only once and you have to come up with two steps in his evolution, or the "Best of" sidebar is supposed to have at least two different slides. You get the drift. Since the editorial format was fixed from the onset, I have very little leeway and sometimes have to rack my brains to find a solution.

But the fun part of it all is that I get to choose and order the slides to illustrate the booklets. The initial stock of slides we could order from Warner Publishing consisted of about 700 that had been shot for two LT trivia calendars in 2000 and 2001, but as the collection developed and as we got into more minor characters, we needed to have Warner produce new slides from their cartoons. I went to Burbank in February and met with head of Publishing, Kevin B. We set up a procedure where, instead of ordering costly time-coded tapes of the cartoons we needed to have slides of, I just provide Kevin with (approximately time-coded) frame grabs of the images we need. He then forwards them to the Animation Dpt. that shoots the slides and sends them to us. That way, I'm able to have a much larger variety of slides for each character than if we had to resort only to a few "representative" cartoons.
I'm currently at issue #30 (Hubie & Bertie) and am going to do #31 (Marc Anthony & Pussyfoot) next. But I had to skip #28 (Petunia) for the time being because I don't have her first appearance. Unfortunately, after searching high and low, I'll just have to make do with what I have. I've seen the Termite Terrace forum mentioned in conjunction with so many interesting efforts that I just had to ask for more info here before I write the piece.

There, I hope this rant hasn't bored you. I'm looking forward to having a great time here! And if you need info on the WB comics, I'll be happy to oblige. I have about 500 of them (a small but growing collection), and about 1000 Dell and GKs Funny Animals in all (including other studios). My favorite WB comics artist is Phil DeLara, whose works I have indexed and who has been my primary motivation in putting together a collection of Dell WB comics in the first place.

Best,
Tristan

PS: I'm kind of new to forums. How do you create an avatar?

[Brandon Pierce]

You need to make 10 posts before you can make an Avatar, so far you've only made 2. That's all I've got on making Avatars. I also know that Avatars can only have a dimension of 75 x 75.

And welcome to the boards. By the way, these figurines you are working on, which Looney Tunes are you doing? Is this for a company? Will they be released in the states?

[Daniel P]

For an avatar, click on USER CP, then click on AVATAR. You can upload your own avatar or get one from the Internet. It's maximum size is a dimension of 75 x 75

[Boy Wonder]

Anyway, welcome to the Termite Terrace Trading Post. This will not be the only board, though it will be your home base. You'll meet a lot of people here waiting to say hi or whatever.

[datadox]

Hi Brandon,

Here are the characters that have been done (physically published) so far:
1- Bugs Bunny
2- Wile E. Coyote
3- Tweety & Sylvester
4- Tasmanian Devil
5- Beep Beep
6- Daffy Duck
7- She-Devil
8- Yosemite Sam
9- Speedy Gonzales
10- Marvin the Martian
11- K-9
12- Foghorn Leghorn
13- Henery Hawk
14- Pepé le Pew
15- Penelope

The following are to be published as I write this:
16- Elmer Fudd
17- Goofy Gophers
18- Sylvester, Jr
19- Hippety Hopper
20- Granny
21- Lola Bunny
22- Gossamer
23- Witch Hazel
24- Miss Prissy
25- Barnyard Dog
26- Playboy Penguin
27- Porky Pig
28- Petunia Pig
29- Claude Cat
30- Hubie & Bertie
31- Marc Anthony & Pussyfoot
32- O'Pat (the Leprechaun)
33- Hector
34- Eggbert (aka Egghead, Jr)
35- Rocky
36- Mugsy
37- Michigan J. Frog
38- Cecil Turtle
39- Egghead
40- Slowpoke Rodriguez
41- Sniffles
42- Bookworm
43- Spike
44- Chester
45- Baby Face Finster
46- Charlie Dog
47- Count Bloodcount
48- Agatha & Emily
49- The Do-Do
50- Blacque Jacque Shellacque
51- Batty
52- Hugo the Abominable Snowman
53- Willy the Weasel
54- The Gambling Bug
55- Conrad Cat
56- Pete Puma
57- Instant Martian
58- Ralph Phillips
59- Cool Cat
60- Colonel Rimfire

The following were not approved by WB's Legal: Minah Bird, Beaky Buzzard, Evil Scientist, Ralph Wolf (so Sam Sheepdog could not be done, although it was not rejected) and were replaced with Petunia, Lola Bunny, Ralph Phillips, Blacque Jacque Shellacque and Charlie the Dog. But this list is still subject to changes, as the head honchos at Editions Atlas want to intersperse ultra-minor characters with "re-does" of major characters in different costumes (I proposed Bugs Bunny as a cowboy, Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers, Porky as space cadet, Elmer in his comic-book plain clothes and bowler hat, Yosemite Sam as a pirate instead of a cowboy, and the booklets for these will deal with their incarnations in the comics, since their screen career has already been dealt with). The characters that will most likely be shelved in favor of these are Bookworm, Blacque Jacque, Batty, The Gambling Bug and Ralph Phillips.

As for these to be released in the USA, I don't think so, at least not by Atlas. Atlas is primarily a mail-order company and caters mostly to a local audience. The collection has been picked up in Spain and may also be published in other European countries, but not in the US. Warner, on the other hand, owns the rights to the collection (Atlas is only a licensee and has only one-time per country rights). This collection is quite unique. I don't know of anything of the sort that has been done already. Am I right?

By the way, the collection is bi-weekly and the last issue should be published on April 13, 2005! But I intend to finish all the texts before the end of this year, because I'd like to launch another collection at Atlas: Hanna-Barbera vehicles!

I hope this answers your questions.
Best,
Tristan

[Boy Wonder]

It sucks none of your works are published in US, because all of us would love to read it.

[datadox]

Yeah, I know. But don't forget these are in French, so they would have to be translated. A person is translating my texts so that WB can review them before publication, but I'm not sure to what extent they would be publishable as is.

Hey, maybe you can petition Warner to adapt the collection in the US?

Best,
Tristan

[Jack]

The following were not approved by WB's Legal: Minah Bird, Beaky Buzzard, Evil Scientist, Ralph Wolf (so Sam Sheepdog could not be done, although it was not rejected) and were replaced with Petunia, Lola Bunny, Ralph Phillips, Blacque Jacque Shellacque and Charlie the Dog.
That's a shame, rejecting funny, interesting, characters like the Minah Bird and Beaky Buzzard and greenlighting a bland nobody like Lola Bunny. :( I'd buy a Minah bird figurine :p


But this list is still subject to changes, as the head honchos at Editions Atlas want to intersperse ultra-minor characters with "re-does" of major characters in different costumes (I proposed Bugs Bunny as a cowboy, Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers, Porky as space cadet, Elmer in his comic-book plain clothes and bowler hat, Yosemite Sam as a pirate instead of a cowboy, and the booklets for these will deal with their incarnations in the comics, since their screen career has already been dealt with).
I think it's neat that they're going to do some comic-book inspired ones (though, Duck Dodgers has been done to death, how about Duck Twacy, the Scarlett Pumpernickel, or 1940's Daffy for once?). I also like that minor characters like Sniffles and Cecil Turtle are being done, WB tends to ignore those characters over here in the U.S.

You're right, I don't anything like this has been in the U.S. (they once did a line of beany dolls featuring a lot of minor characters). The stuff over here ceased to be interesting in the mid 90's.

I've recently started collecting the old Dell Looney Tunes comics, and I enjoy them a lot more than I thought I would. My favorites by far are the Daffy Duck stories from the 1950's, particularly the ones done for special issues like the Christmas Funnies and Four Color comics.

welcome to the board!

Jack :bosko:

[datadox]

Jack,

Minah Bird was rejected because it is in connection with Inki and there may have ensued non-PC stuff. We weren't really told why Beaky Buzzard was rejected, but it may because it's a Bob Clampett character on which copyright was not renewed. As for Ralph Wolf, it was rejected for being basically another Wile E. with a red nose.

Hmm. I'll think about the Duck Twacy suggestion. But on the other hand, Duck Dodgers hasn't been done in France so it will be new there, and it's the only costumed Daffy that lasted more than one apparearance (although one non-classic, I agree). Plus there's going to be the TV series.

Daffy Duck comics from the 50s? They are precisely by Phil DeLara, my favorite WB artist! There were only 3 Daffy Four-Color, then he got his own title. I think Phil DeLara's version of Daffy in the comics is one of the most brilliant screen-to-paper transposition of an animated character. I just love these!

Best,
Tristan

[Jave]

Mr. Lapoussiere, welcome to Termite Terrace Trading Post ("It's Full O' Nuts"), we're glad you're sharing your work with us. Although if there' s still no talk of bringing these figurines to the U.S., there's pretty much no chance of them arriving to Latin America, right? I'd love to see those...

- Javier :chilly:

[Thad Komorowski]

Tristan,

If you need images of any WB characters, I'll be more than happy to help you! :) :coyote:

Thad

[Jon Cooke]

That set of figurines sounds amazing. Does the company have a website? I'd love to see pictures of them.

I'd buy them all (if I could)! I love the fact that there's a company making figurines of Egghead, Cool Cat, and Sniffles. :)

Now if Merlin the Magic Mouse, Buddy, or the Three Bears were included... that set would be perfect. ;)


-Jon

[datadox]

Javier: Thanks for the welcome. Who knows, since the collection is being picked up in Spain, these may end up in Latin America? Not from Atlas (whose Spanish branch is Planeta DeAgostini, the head company being the Italian DeAgostini group), but maybe from licensees in Latin America.

Thad: Thanks for the offer! My needs are really frame grabs, as other visuals are supplied from WB model sheet clean-ups or official style guides, sometimes even current comics.
I have about 150 cds with Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, but I'm still far from having a complete WB set (I guesstimate I have about 700 shorts), and some key shorts for some characters still elude me. This is the case for Petunia.
If you have "Porky's Romance", "Porky and Teabiscuit", "Porky's Picnic" and feel there are images in them that would look good in a booklet about Petunia, feel free to send some to my email address (lapousst@wanadoo.fr), along with a timecode (e.g. 03'54") in the file name. That's really all I need to be able to order a slide.

Jon: Yes, the figurines look good, but I've seen the masters and these are really awesome, as they somehow have a different polish about them. Yes, Editions Atlas has a website (www.editionsatlas.fr), but unfortunately the collection is the ONLY one that is not there, at least last time I checked. I've already vented my dissatisfaction with that. I wonder if they're not afraid the Looney Tunes will endanger their respectability ;) Seriously though, the website doesn't really generate sales, it's more a showcase as sales are mostly from mail orders (subscriptions) and in newsstands.
I also thought the Three Bears not being there was a shame, but it would have been impractical to have all three (especially Junior), and the editorial format wouldn't allow to treat them separately in the booklet.

Best,
Tristan

[Matthew Hunter]

Welcome to the board! I think the figurine set sounds interesting. Wish we had it in the US!!!

If you are looking for characters to do, here are a few that I don't see on the list. I'd love to see what Warner Bros. would think of representing these:

Buddy and Cookie:
The successors to Bosko and Honey, after Harman and Ising left Warner cartoons. They're largely ignored by WB, mainly because they were never done in color.
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/buddy1.jpg

Beans the Cat:
original sidekick to Porky Pig. He also had a few solo cartoons, like the one pictured below, "Cartoonist's Nightmare" (1935).
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/beans03.jpg

Gabby Goat:
short lived friend of Porky Pig, who appeared in a few cartoons by Ub Iwerks and Bob Clampett in the 1930's.
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/gabby1.jpg

The gremlin:
sabotaged Bugs Bunny's airplane in the 1943 Bob Clampett classic "Falling Hare".
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/gremlin.jpg

Casbah:
Bugs Bunny's rival for the affection of girl friend Daisy Lou in the cartoon "Hare Splitter" (1948).
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/casbah.jpg

Frisky Puppy:
Diminuative but audible rival to Claude Cat in several 1950's cartoons directed by Chuck Jones. The picture below is from "Terrier Stricken"(1952).
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/Frisky.jpg

The Honeymousers:
Robert McKimson's parody of TV's "The Honeymooners". Only three were made.
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/hmousers2.jpg
Bunny and Claude:
these two gangster rabbits appeared in two cartoons in 1968. They were originally planned for a series by Robert McKimson, but the studio closed before it got off the ground.
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/bunny02.jpg

-Matthew

[Matthew Hunter]

Oh, and let's not forget Merlin the Magic Mouse and his sidekick, Second Banana. :)
http://toolooney.toonzone.net/merlin1.jpg

[Thad Komorowski]

Tristan,

I just sent you an e-mail! Check it out! :daffy:

[Jave]

How about Colonel Shuffle? He was in "Mississippi Hare" and "Dog Gone South"

http://www.espacios.net/javeman/MH022.jpg

[Jack]

Jack,

Minah Bird was rejected because it is in connection with Inki and there may have ensued non-PC stuff. We weren't really told why Beaky Buzzard was rejected, but it may because it's a Bob Clampett character on which copyright was not renewed. As for Ralph Wolf, it was rejected for being basically another Wile E. with a red nose.
That's too bad. The exclusion of Beaky for legal reasons seems a little strange, since the character has been used in recent series, like Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Maybe Ralph's design could be based on his first appearance, where he had puffy legs and few more design elements that set him apart from Wile E.



Hmm. I'll think about the Duck Twacy suggestion. But on the other hand, Duck Dodgers hasn't been done in France so it will be new there, and it's the only costumed Daffy that lasted more than one apparearance (although one non-classic, I agree). Plus there's going to be the TV series.
Oh, I didn't know it was a new thing to French people, sorry for jumping to conclusions. Over here, Dodgers has been used for figurines, collectors plates, etc.


Daffy Duck comics from the 50s? They are precisely by Phil DeLara, my favorite WB artist! There were only 3 Daffy Four-Color, then he got his own title. I think Phil DeLara's version of Daffy in the comics is one of the most brilliant screen-to-paper transposition of an animated character. I just love these!
I have the first and third four-color comics, but not the second one (I've been looking for it, though). Did DeLara draw all of the stories in these? Did he write them too? I've sort of noticed two different character designs for Daffy, I call them "chubby legs" and "skinny legs" for lack of better names :p. They thought up the most wonderfully silly things for these stories while still staying faithful to the character's screen personality. I wish DC would do a huge reprint of all these.

There's also another artist who did a couple stories using an early 40's looking design. One is a Porky Pig story in issue 121, and other is in Bugs Bunny's Vacation Funnies #2 (a comic adaptation of Golden Yeggs).

I also like other features. Henery Hawk is usually pretty good (Henery's personality is spot-on, even though the stories are very different from the cartoons), and I like the Bugs Bunny stories from the 1940's that I've seen. I also really like the Mary Jane and Sniffles comics from the 1950's (I heard that's when Al Hubbard took it over).


Jack :bosko:

[Jon Cooke]

That's too bad. The exclusion of Beaky for legal reasons seems a little strange, since the character has been used in recent series, like Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Maybe Ralph's design could be based on his first appearance, where he had puffy legs and few more design elements that set him apart from Wile E.

Also, maybe you could have Ralph in a pose where he's sneaking away carrying a sheep, so he doesn't look like another Wile E. figure. :coyote:


-Jon

[rodney]

What a cool project! Welcome aboard Tristan and good luck!

PS--I'm also a DCML member!