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A Cool One Off the Bucket List (Fun Read)
7 years ago
General
What is it like to be the Energizer Bunny? I got to find out today.
Draconis and I were downtown today to do a paid mascot gig as the Energizer Bunny. Draconis was the character, and I was the handler. We had had the same arrangement last year with this character at a different venue, so we thought we were good to go with this gig. What we didn't know was that it was a new style suit and that we were the first ones to use it. The job was an 8 hour gig with a half hour on and off schedule. After about three sets, Draconis' shoulder started bothering him and also, he couldn't stay suited up for a full thirty minutes. The suit was deucedly difficult to wear. Since it was a new suit, it hadn't had all the bugs worked out of it yet. *We made up a list of improvements to pass on to the mascot company that supplies the character costume.* Anyway, I offered to take over and ended up wearing the character and Draconis became the handler. It was a tough gig physically. After my first set, I realized how hard this was going to be. The head ran out of "clean" air after about five minutes and definitely needed a ventilator fan. I gradually started breathing faster and faster to compensate for the oxygen depletion. I will be posting some photos later, but won't be showing partial pictures of the suit as it is not allowed to take any. We managed to work through these issues by working twenty minute on and off sets instead of the thirty minute on and off sets. The time in costume worked out the same this way. I also learned a "work around" for the oxygen depletion, that extended the in-suit time to as long as thirty minutes, which was my longest set.
I do have to say that the suit was enormously popular and we staged dozens and dozens of photos during the day. As far as wearability...
on a one to ten scale, this is how I rate it:
Visibility - 1 The only visibility is about a fifteen degree arc straight forward with no down arc due to the drum. There is almost no sideways head turning capability which means you have to "aim" where you are going and cannot see your feet. You definitely have to have a handler. This also means you cannot see where the people are when they come up to get a photo, and you have to do the open arm thing and go by touch to stage the photos. I kept my paws high and open. lol I did a lot of thumbs up and bunny ears behind the head shots though.
Mobility - 2 Enormous foot paws and the lack of head mobility and visual acuity makes movement difficult at best. The drum complicates matters much further as you don't really have lateral vision to see where the drum goes in the movement arc when you turn. If your handler isn't right with you, you have to turn very slowly to make sure you don't "bang the drum" with a fan. The foot paws were hard to "lift" when walking because of their size, so I mostly ended up shuffling because I couldn't move fast anyway due to the visual difficulties.
Comfort - 3 The drum is hard on your lower back after an all day gig. The "rig" that holds the drum harness also tends to "dig in" and become more and more difficult the longer it is worn. Kind of like having a small rock in your shoe that you can't stop to take out during a long hike. We suggested fixes for this though. I have made some fursuits and kinda know what will fix stuff like this. The head was very wearable, though with the breathing issue, I had to modify how I wore it to allow a little more fresh air in, but it made it more difficult to control the stability of the head overall.
Heat - 9 Even though the head lacked ventilation, there wasn't much heat in either the head or the body. I feel I could have easily done hour long + sets had the oxygen problem in the head been resolved and if the drum rig had had a couple of minor tweaks to correct the digging in issue.
Drawbacks - Mobility definitely limits the fun in suit. Also, people just LOVE to beat on my drum. I can't imagine why. At one point, someone said something about getting a shot gun and a cast iron skillet. That's the drawback of living down South. lol The weight of the drum is an issue I don't think can be corrected without remaking the part. Maybe a back brace could be worn. Dunno. I didn't list the rig digging in as that is an easy fix.
Coolness Factor - 10 I mean... come on! Who doesn't know the Energizer Bunny? Everybody wants to be ya or wants to be seen with ya. He keeps goin' and goin' and goin'...
Would I do this again? Yes! In a heart beat. Especially if the suit is modified a bit. To the credit of the mascot company, they called several times during the gig to see how the suit was to perform in and wanted to know what we recommended as fixes. Draconis, God bless him! is really great to work with either as a handler or being handled. His insight from the times he mascotted at Disney, Kellogs, and other venues was invaluable. He was kind enough to let me try out this character and I was trooper enough to pull the weight so that he wouldn't have to aggravate his shoulder. Even though, by the end of the day, I felt like a boxing gym heavy bag that had had a hard workout, I was grateful for the experience and wouldn't have traded it for the world.
Draconis and I were downtown today to do a paid mascot gig as the Energizer Bunny. Draconis was the character, and I was the handler. We had had the same arrangement last year with this character at a different venue, so we thought we were good to go with this gig. What we didn't know was that it was a new style suit and that we were the first ones to use it. The job was an 8 hour gig with a half hour on and off schedule. After about three sets, Draconis' shoulder started bothering him and also, he couldn't stay suited up for a full thirty minutes. The suit was deucedly difficult to wear. Since it was a new suit, it hadn't had all the bugs worked out of it yet. *We made up a list of improvements to pass on to the mascot company that supplies the character costume.* Anyway, I offered to take over and ended up wearing the character and Draconis became the handler. It was a tough gig physically. After my first set, I realized how hard this was going to be. The head ran out of "clean" air after about five minutes and definitely needed a ventilator fan. I gradually started breathing faster and faster to compensate for the oxygen depletion. I will be posting some photos later, but won't be showing partial pictures of the suit as it is not allowed to take any. We managed to work through these issues by working twenty minute on and off sets instead of the thirty minute on and off sets. The time in costume worked out the same this way. I also learned a "work around" for the oxygen depletion, that extended the in-suit time to as long as thirty minutes, which was my longest set.
I do have to say that the suit was enormously popular and we staged dozens and dozens of photos during the day. As far as wearability...
on a one to ten scale, this is how I rate it:
Visibility - 1 The only visibility is about a fifteen degree arc straight forward with no down arc due to the drum. There is almost no sideways head turning capability which means you have to "aim" where you are going and cannot see your feet. You definitely have to have a handler. This also means you cannot see where the people are when they come up to get a photo, and you have to do the open arm thing and go by touch to stage the photos. I kept my paws high and open. lol I did a lot of thumbs up and bunny ears behind the head shots though.
Mobility - 2 Enormous foot paws and the lack of head mobility and visual acuity makes movement difficult at best. The drum complicates matters much further as you don't really have lateral vision to see where the drum goes in the movement arc when you turn. If your handler isn't right with you, you have to turn very slowly to make sure you don't "bang the drum" with a fan. The foot paws were hard to "lift" when walking because of their size, so I mostly ended up shuffling because I couldn't move fast anyway due to the visual difficulties.
Comfort - 3 The drum is hard on your lower back after an all day gig. The "rig" that holds the drum harness also tends to "dig in" and become more and more difficult the longer it is worn. Kind of like having a small rock in your shoe that you can't stop to take out during a long hike. We suggested fixes for this though. I have made some fursuits and kinda know what will fix stuff like this. The head was very wearable, though with the breathing issue, I had to modify how I wore it to allow a little more fresh air in, but it made it more difficult to control the stability of the head overall.
Heat - 9 Even though the head lacked ventilation, there wasn't much heat in either the head or the body. I feel I could have easily done hour long + sets had the oxygen problem in the head been resolved and if the drum rig had had a couple of minor tweaks to correct the digging in issue.
Drawbacks - Mobility definitely limits the fun in suit. Also, people just LOVE to beat on my drum. I can't imagine why. At one point, someone said something about getting a shot gun and a cast iron skillet. That's the drawback of living down South. lol The weight of the drum is an issue I don't think can be corrected without remaking the part. Maybe a back brace could be worn. Dunno. I didn't list the rig digging in as that is an easy fix.
Coolness Factor - 10 I mean... come on! Who doesn't know the Energizer Bunny? Everybody wants to be ya or wants to be seen with ya. He keeps goin' and goin' and goin'...
Would I do this again? Yes! In a heart beat. Especially if the suit is modified a bit. To the credit of the mascot company, they called several times during the gig to see how the suit was to perform in and wanted to know what we recommended as fixes. Draconis, God bless him! is really great to work with either as a handler or being handled. His insight from the times he mascotted at Disney, Kellogs, and other venues was invaluable. He was kind enough to let me try out this character and I was trooper enough to pull the weight so that he wouldn't have to aggravate his shoulder. Even though, by the end of the day, I felt like a boxing gym heavy bag that had had a hard workout, I was grateful for the experience and wouldn't have traded it for the world.
V.
I didn't realize Kellogs had a mascot for Fruit Loops.
That does sound like an awesome day though, even with the suit issues and it being a full, 8 hour day.
People love well-known mascots and I'm sure you guys brought smiles to dozens of faces.
I wish you could have been there to take photos.
And I would definitely have preferred doing that, over the 4+ hours of meetings I was on with customers. :(
One thing I did notice in the picture was that the character didn't have any mallets to beat the drum with. Did the drum make any sounds?