The Unicorn Chronicles: Fuzzy Scratchy Smoky

Flock of chickens?

 Flock of Seagulls?

Okay, so how about flocked Breyers, specifically flocked unicorns? That is precisely what we have for this feature. Before the unicorn resurgence/craze of the past few years, unicorns and other mythical creatures enjoyed popularity last century (weird but oddly fun to type), especially in the 1980s. Now that’s not to say unicorns were confined to only one decade. After all, The Last Unicorn, written by Peter S. Beagle was published in 1968. However, the 1980s were filled with plenty of fantasy/fantasy adventure movies, and although most did not feature unicorns, strong fantasy themes helped cultivate an interest in them. Some 1980s fantasy films in no particular order:

Ladyhawke 

The Dark Crystal

Labyrinth 

The Princess Bride

The NeverEnding Story 

Willow

Clash of the Titans (Pegasus!!!)

Two of the most popular films featuring unicorns were Legend (1985) and The Last Unicorn (1982). Legend is the tale of a forest boy who betrays the unicorns by bringing his girlfriend to see them, resulting in one of the unicorns falling prey to dark forces. Just before all the trouble starts:

Forest boy and his friends must restore life to the unicorn and save the girlfriend, who has been captured by the ubiquitous Dark-Lord-Demon-Dude-Bro (who wishes to marry her, naturally) . Here is the Dark-Lord-Demon-Dude-Bro, played by Tim Curry:

Maybe it’s just me, but I think that Watusi cattle have better horns than Dark-Lord-Demon-Dude-Bro. Hey, D.L.D.D.B.? Seems the Watusi have shown you up big time…

Ahem, back to unicorns. The other unicorn centered film is an animated adaptation of the book The Last Unicorn. A Unicorn, believing she may be the last in existence, embarks on an odyssey to find other unicorns in the world. She encounters many entertaining characters throughout the journey and gains traveling companions during her quest. She is accidentally turned into a human by a rookie wizard in an effort to save her from the Red Bull (who collects the unicorns and chases them into the sea). Oh, cattle again? Sure, why not. Red Bull:

Wait, wait, not that Red Bull. This Red Bull:

The tables turn on Barbecue Boy:

The Unicorn and her companions discover a miserable king is behind the disappearance of the world’s unicorns. They take up work in his castle to unraveled how they can free the unicorns, who are being held as prisoners in the sea. Being in a human body begins to distort the Unicorn’s mind, causing her to begin to forget her purpose. The Unicorn-now-human starts to fall in love with a prince (eyeroll) but ultimately reclaims her unicorn form. She fights the Red Bull and frees the unicorn prisoners, and forces the Red Bull into the sea. Upon the release of the unicorns, the king’s derelict castle crumbles like a cookie, finishing him. The prince and the Unicorn’s companions go off to start new lives. The Unicorn goes back to her forest after undertaking this grand adventure, and continues her life as before. I’ve wanted a Red Bull on the Spanish Fighting Bull mold for years, and maybe one century I may get around to customizing one…

This leads up to our featured unicorn, the fuzzy scratchy Smoky. I named him that due to the obvious: flocking, scratchy mohair, and the Smoky mold. 

The Smoky unicorn flockie appeared in 1984, and was available through JC Penney and the Bentley Sales Company. White flocking was used for the body, while the mane, tail, and scruffy beard are composed of a medium grey, scratchy, mohair-ish material. Unfortunately, the eyes are big black blobs, and it looks like someone colored the eyes in with a Sharpie which bled into the flocking surrounding the eye orbit. The stark red comma in the nostrils looks like blood; a pink shade would have worked better. There is a small gap between the base of the horn and the forehead, exposing a bit of the peg which attaches the horn to the head. I wonder if the horn had come loose and someone attempted to reattach it. It was like that when I bought him, which was in the late 1980s. 

The next year (1985) Smoky was joined by another flocked unicorn, which was done on the Running Stallion mold. Offered through the JCPenney Holiday Catalog, the Running Stallion Unicorn broke the traditional color scheme of white unicorns by being offered in blue flocking. He also lacked the mohair mane and tail, which was replaced with a softer, more manageable doll-like hair which could be brushed (a brush was included with him). As a side note, a flocked blue and white winged Pegasus was also offered by JC Penney at the same time on the Classic/Freedom Lipizzan mold. Here are the beautiful blue Running Stallion Unicorns, which had blue or brown glass eyes:

I believe the Smokies and the Running Stallions were the only traditional flocked unicorns produced. The bulk of Breyer flockies were made in the 1980s; in 2001, flockies made a brief return for Breyerfest with some Stablemates and a Jack Russel. 

 

Ding!Ding!Ding!!! Bonus points if you noticed the similarities between the photos of the flock of chickens and the 1980s band Flock of Seagulls!