The long wait is over. Finally, the production samples of Peanuts Halloween poseables have arrived. Here’s the line-up:

Charlie repeats his appearance in his trendy Vampire costume. Snoopy is wrapped like a mummy and his buddy Woodstock is the archeologist. Sally has the iconic hair of the “Bride of the Monster”. Linus, as the Monster, sports shoe lifts, neck bolts, manacles and face paint.

They each come with a cardboard backdrop for display. That’s all we’ll have out there for Peanuts Halloween 2010. Let’s see the creations we piece together for 2011. Muahahaha!

So, I’ve mentioned some of the issues we’ve had with our Peanuts holiday figures, especially with Peppermint Patty. It is rare that we have any problems with the factory on this product. Sure things happen here and there but they are pretty dependable.

Last year we were getting ready to include her in our Halloween assortment at CVS. I got the painted test shots back and was horrified. She had blonde hair! I thought it was a practical joke. Turns out the joke was on me as I had picked up specs for Sally and rewritten over them. I missed correcting the spec on the hair. Luckily, it wasn’t too early to correct it. (occaisionally, we get “test shots” and they are actually production pieces- Yikes!) Here’s a look at bleach blonde Patty. One of about ½ dozen in existence.

Our most recent miscue has been Patty packaged in Christmas packaging. She was not in our plans for this year but somehow the one shown ended up on the shelf at Meijer. Sure it is a little beaten but it is still factory sealed in spots. Closer inspection shows that she was actually placed in a Franklin inner blister. Notice the lack of an insert- it doesn’t actually say Peppermint Patty anywhere. I’m guessing that the factory had to do some planning for something packaging oriented and they sealed a few of her in the package. (Franklin may have lagged behind in production because parts of him are new) Somehow, she got put in cases and out she went. There is no way of knowing how many are out there. We would never have known about her if Bob hadn’t actually found her in our local Meijer store. What are the odds?

The witch has been a part of folklore since… well, it goes way back… to um… Okay, I’m no historian but I know there were witches in Greek mythology. Maybe they started there but the idea of a witch has been around for along time. When someone says “witch” a mental picture comes to mind, a creepy old crooked lady bent over a bubbling caldron with a pointy hat with its wide brim. She always has her trusty flying broom by her side. Well, that’s what I see anyway.

So building on our theme for this year’s Peanuts Halloween poseable figures, we have Lucy as a witch. I hope she doesn’t take that as an insult. In fact I’m sure she won’t as she appeared in the famous cartoon special dressed as a witch of sorts. The mask she wore in that special reminds me of the masks I used to where for Halloween. Oddly enough, I went out as a witch at least twice, both times in those old vinyl suits with the vacuformed plastic masks. Ah, the good ol’ days.

Keep an eye out for Lucy as a witch this coming Halloween.

Some of my earliest memories are from when I was a little kid when my dad worked late. I’m not sure if he was working second shift or just overtime. Anyway, I remember begging my mom to let me stay up late on Friday nights to watch CREATURE FEATURE. The funny thing was that I could rarely keep my eyes open long enough to see the stars of the show. I’m sure what I did get to see gave me nightmares. Boy did I love it though. Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, you name it. I’ve always had a love of the classics. I’m glad that we got to take some inspiration from those classics to freshen this year’s Peanuts line.

This gives you a little peak at our Peanuts Halloween poseable figures, which will be available at CVS pharmacies. We love them and hope they make a fun addition to everyone’s Halloween décor. Charlie Brown as a vampire is just the start.

It’s almost July — less than half a year away from the holidays. Test shots of our Forever Fun holiday offerings are arriving almost daily here at Round 2. Some of them are far enough along to have test deco applied for approval. I find it exciting to see figures and accessories that were a figment of our imagination just a year ago, turned into tactile objects with all their deco glory. Sometimes the factories need specific direction, and there’s no better way than to show them! In the photo, you see Jamie applying paint to Franklin’s winter cap. Once he achieves the look he’s going for, he’ll snap a photo and email it to the factory. The finished image is in the top right corner. Franklin is a new poseable figure that we’ve added to our Forever Fun Peanuts Christmas line of products this year.

Proofing a pile of press proofs promises to be repetitive, particularly because they are all from our 2009 Peanuts Halloween product offerings. Lot’s of pumpkin orange, vine green, harvest yellow. Please, don’t get the wrong impression. I happen to be tickled pink with our Peanuts packaging design for the last few years. The point is, today is bright and sunny. It’s the kind of day for grass green and sky blue. There’s the smell of mowed grass in the air with the perfume of flowers wafting through.

OK, back to work. Paying a particular bit of attention to print quality, how do the patterns hold up from piece to piece? Is there proper ink coverage; too heavy to weak in one plate or another? Is everything present? Did any part drop off, (i.e., are all the pieces of data in the proper place)? At this point in time, the printing looks proper; all but a few minor parts are approved to proceed with production. The Forever Fun Peanuts Halloween packaging is ready to go, but for me, summer is just starting and can stay around a long, long time.

Not a whole lot to report this week. I’ll be finishing up all of the color specs for the ’09 holiday season hopefully. In the meantime, here are some images of mockups and tooling patterns for upcoming items. Take a look around for them this coming Fall and Winter. Let’s see, we’ve got…

Peanuts push puppets will be available this Halloween at CVS pharmacy while Christmas versions will be available at other retailers. The engineering issue that last year’s Rudolph push puppets had has been completely corrected.

Deluxe Snoopy is looking sharp in his Tuxedo. This is actually a hand made mockup I did as a sales sample. He’ll look a little more dapper when the production tux gets finished. He’ll come with his black piano and Woodstock who will also be sporting a bow tie.

Angel Sally and Woodstock in a manger will be featured in our play pack assortment this year. Charlie, Lucy, Linus and of course, Snoopy round out the poseable figures in their costumes for their Christmas pageant.

One of the coolest Peanuts poseable figures, ever, is the dancing Snoopy that was originally produced last year as part of the Forever Fun Peanuts Christmas line. This little guy, as we love to say in the biz, has multiple points of articulation and is authentically detailed. To be precise, little Snoop here has 7 points of articulation (9, if you count the ears!) and is the most poseable version of the figure we’ve ever released.

It is always a real challenge translating a very stylized 2 dimensional comic strip character into 3 dimensions, much less incorporating articulation points that make sense and don’t violate the character’s basic shape. Round 2’s art director, Jamie, worked closely with the sculptor and provided very specific direction in order to accomplish just that. The Peanuts licensor was kept updated every step of the way and helped ensure that the sculpt stayed true to Charles Schulz’ character design. The result is an aesthetically-pleasing figure that’s full of personality, poseability and displayability. (That’s a lot to pack into 3 inches of plastic).

Dancing Snoopy returned as part of the “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” line, and now includes his very own Easter basket accessory and clear stand. Easter Beagle Snoopy was available at select CVS Pharmacy stores and Time and Space Toys. Hop on over to foreverfun.com for more info!

Christmas is almost the only time that I can see my whole family together in one place. All my siblings and their extended families gather at my mom’s home. There’s gift giving, music, a huge meal and lots of games afterward. For that reason, it’s a favorite time. This year, I gave my mom a gift of the Peanuts Deluxe Dancing Snoopy with sound. I told her it would look perfect in her formal living room as part of her Christmas décor. It was a hit with the whole family, young and old – when my mom wasn’t playing Christmas songs on her piano you could hear the Vince Guaraldi music coming from Snoopy’s piano.

The other day, I noticed that Dancing Snoopy was still on display in her living room. He looked like he was welcoming spring by dancing a jig. He adds a bit of whimsy to her room? Surely, he reminds her of the wonderful Christmas with all of her family. It makes me smile just looking at Snoopy on top of his piano on top of her piano.