🍑 James and The Giant Peach - Grasshopper Doll 🍑

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In 1996 Walt Disney Pictures got togtehr with Tim Burton to make a part live action, part animation version of one of my favourite books from childhood, James and the giant peach.

As my boy was one year old at the time and as I loved reading the book by Ronald Dahl as a child, I went out on a whim and bought him a copy of the film as soon as it was released on video.

To be honest, I was quite disappointed with the film, not so much the animation, although the centipede who was until that point one of my favourite characters in the book, is facially very weird... 

It was the live action bit at the start that really annoyed me. 

They used the same boy (Paul Terry), who would later show up in the BBC/Disney Channel's Microsoap and unfortunately made him sing... a lot, too much, far to much.

The bit with the Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, (played by Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margoyles respectively), was great... No one does wicked adults quite like Ronald Dahl and the film captured the essence of the characters really well.

The problem for me is, with a lot of children's films, they always seem to feel the need to add awful repetitive songs and high pitched singing that really isn't necessary, unless of course the book you are adapting the story from contains a singing/Party scene. 

Anyway, long rant short, the boy loved it - except the "I'm James, James" song,  not surprising, he's a chip off the old block but anyway the animation bits were really good and were used to relate the story from the point when James enters the peach and meets the insects who will become his friends and begins his adventure.

The Old Green Grasshopper is not only the eldest but considered one of the wisest creatures amongst the peach dwelling invertebrates and became one of a line of Limited Edition Collectable Dolls released by Jun Planning Co. - the other doll in the range is the Centipede, who is the same size and comes in a similar box. 

The box opens like a book, held shut with a flat tiger's tooth shaped peg which slots into a tiny piece of ribbon on the side of the box.

Once open it reveals a large viewing pane which allows you to see the entire figure, without opening the box, if you don't wish to.

  

I opened his box carefully, from the top and was immediately greeted with the image above, I found it adorable that his little tail had to have it's own hole to slot inside, of course this helps him to stand better in the box and means he is less likely to be damaged in transit.

Once removed, he stands at 15 inches tall and is very posable, (within reason) all his arms move and his legs have 3 points of articulation, so he is pretty posable, however his shoes are moulded onto his feet and his outfit is not removable, so you have to be very careful when posing not to put him near anything that might mark it as if it does, you'll have to clean it on the doll which I'm sure would be blooming awkward!

The other thing of course, is his tail being an unmovable piece of hard plastic it might get in the way when attempting to pose him in different places or positions, and cannot be moved from side to side to give more posability in this area.

He also is able to stand up by himself, so that helps too, but to sit him down you are very limited in the poses and leg positions you place him in, although they remain true to the way he moved in the film, but due to his tail, he is quite stable in this position so it's good for photographing him.

He comes with his monocle attatched at one end to the pocket of his jacket (made of a thin velveteen type material) which he can hold easily in his right hand, so you can pose him holding it up to his eye, but if he isn't holding it, it will just hang down on it's chain and dangle at his leg until you decide to do something with it.

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As soon as I saw The Grasshopper doll, I wanted him, he looks exactly like his animated counterpart and he's also one of my favourite characters from the book.

I'm not sure about the Centipede doll, in terms of height or how many is in the run, but The Grasshopper doll was released in a Limited (never to be produced again) Edition of only 2000 pieces.

These dolls, understandably sold out within a few days of being available and so are now very hard to come by.

I was lucky enough to find mine on Ebay, still sealed and at a good price, but it took many years of searching to do so.

I'd recommend him if you are into the film, book or like quirky dolls, but be prepared to wait a while and search a lot to find him.

Anyhoo, that's all for now folks,

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