  
|
The show was great. I don't know final figures, but I was told they expected 15,000 people on Saturday alone! This is the news I got on Puffkins, straight from John Pouleson's mouth, who, by the way, is a really nice guy and was more than willing to spend time talking to a Puffkin fanatic like me. (He even let me get my picture taken with him and the Giant Happy.) But anyway..... There are four new Puffkins to be announced in six weeks. He wouldn't hint at what they might be, but he did smile when I asked if one might be a calico cat. He also said that the big news was a big announcement to be made on November 1st. I asked if this was going to be a massive retirement notice like you-know-who, and he said no, this was GOOD news... and that we didn't even have to buy anything. Mr. Pouleson also apologized again about the Mystic fiasco and said he had learned a lesson. By the way, did you know that there were actually more Mystics manufactured than there were Armours? It's just that fewer Mystics were shipped to each retailer than Armour. I thought that was interesting. John also said that the 1999 Halloween Puffkins are a huge success. He's having retailers who are trying to order more and he has to remind them that they were told the Puffkins were Limited Editions... they would only get what they ordered and they couldn't re-order. When I left him, he was still smiling about what Halloween 2000 may bring! Last but not least, there were special show tags put on eight styles of Puffkins, 250 tags per style (the Christmas ones and the latest releases; Autumn, Buzz, Gertie and Roswell). There were also special checklists with the MaryBeth Convention information printed on them and special "I'm a Puffkin Person" buttons. The Convention "freebies" included a Big Bammer of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, with the certificate of authenticity. Also included were Holy Bears, the Senator Bear, some tag protectors and, of course, a free Puffkin.  |
