Fun facts:
1) That Kool-Aid magnet was made from an actual sealed packet of Stawberry-Falls Punch, and was a lucky find. I have nearly every Kool-Aid flavor imaginable in doubles or triples at least, but this was/is my only pack of Strawberry-Falls Punch. Braving the protective laminate, the powder beneath was safe enough to make a drink out of. I hope.
2) I can’t remember where I found the gator, but he’s been a part of my magnet army for as long as I’ve had a magnet army. He’s the one all of the other magnets turn to when some story from ancient magnet history is required.
3) The ugly guy with the word balloon is “Steve the Tramp” from Dick Tracy. The fact that there’s a Steve the Tramp magnet proves that Earth is beautiful and that nobody should move to Jupiter.
4) I don’t know about the toast magnet. I just like it.
Littleface.
Dick Tracy is one of my favorite movies. I know I’m in the minority on this.
I still glisten when I remember that awesome summer of 1990, when Dick Tracy and Gremlins 2 were in theaters simultaneously. (One of the hardest decisions of my life was deciding which to see first. Pretty sure Tracy won.)
Good guys are boring. This movie was all about its villains. Staying true to the comic strip’s exaggerated style, the bad guys often looked more like monsters than mobsters.
The best example? Littleface.
Littleface was only in the film briefly – he’s one of the gangsters Flattop and Itchy gun down during the opening minutes. You never really get a good look at him, which just adds to the mystique. Something about little faces and small doses. I’m hungover.
Many Dick Tracy villains had names and identities based on their personal defects. With Littleface, I think the idea was that his eyes, mouth and nose were tiny-sized and crunched in the middle. Fortunately/unfortunately, it came off more like he had a giant head.
A giant, scary head. It didn’t help that Littleface’s only “line” was exactly the type of guttural sigh that you’d expect from a creature who ate human flesh. Gripping and ghoulish, I only wish that he had more than 30 seconds to make his impression.
Course, admittedly, this whole thing was just an excuse to post a scan of Littleface’s trading card.
That’s how you ring a new year in right.
