TOPIC: 'Rudolph Saves the Sprites' (RStS), a storybook by Amy Laroche, and illustrated by June Brigman and Roy Richardson.
This storybook is the closest fans of Goodtimes's 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer: the Movie' will ever get to a sequel ...so of course the book was very rare and prohibitively priced.
...'was'! :D
I'm unsure what happened, but the book (at the time of this writing) is available on Amazon for less than $20. Previous to this, I couldn't find the book for much less than $200 USD.
I've wanted to re-view RStS since 2019 ...and now I get to, at last!
TL;DR: I have the book and I'm going to read through it here. :3
...and before anyone gets their hopes up, I have a tiny but egregious spoiler: Slyly isn't in this story (you're free to stop reading now lol). D:
The re-view will begin after we have a look at the featured pencil. :3
The featured pencil is an uncommon 'Tinsel-Tint' model from Eberhard Faber.
Despite its name, the Tinsel-Tint is neither a colored-lead pencil nor is its core especially slim or thin (if you want a tiny, branded pencil, try the 'Elfin' or the 'Sprite' from Eagle ...if you can find them).
In the case of the Tinsel-Tint, the name derives from the fact these pencils came painted in a variety of metallic colors (decorative tinsel is often shiny/reflective).
So the Tinsel-Tint doesn't sparkle like Rudolph's sprites, but it does gleam. :3
It so happens I have a Tinsel-Tint stub in my scrap box, so I used it to delineate this ACO (the featured pencil is unsharpened). The Tinsel-Tint's drag is acceptably smooth (the graphite resists a bit) and its line is medium-dark. The line is thin, but not especially so (again, nothing of distinction here).
NOW ON TO THE STORY!
DISCLAIMER: My re-view will presume the reader is familiar with its prequel.
If the reader has not seen the prequel, click here and enjoy (then come back ...because I like pageviews) Link tested 11/14/2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE8l8KTf30o
The story begins at the crowded Reindeer Games stadium. The evening's closing event is to be a display of the Northern Lights, brought to us by the sprites.
Santa announces the beginning of the light show...
And nothing happens. :p
After a while, a concerned Santa exclaims to the crowd,
"Something has happened to the sprites! Doggle! Boone! Harness the flyers to my sleigh!"
Santa's getting smarter! In this story, he remembers he has flying reindeer! :D
The next morning, Rudolph gives the sad news to Zoey: the search was unsuccessful; the sprites were nowhere to be found. :(
As the deer begin bemoaning the disappearance of the sprites, Rudolph notices a flower sprouting from the snow ...and then another, and another! In fact, a thick row of flowers are discovered forming a trail to Stormella's ice castle! D:
Rudolph proposes he and Zoey follow the flower trail, as doing so may lead to the sprites.
ZOEY: "I'm scared of Stormella"
RUDOLPH: "Stormella used to be wicked. But she's nice now, remember?"
Though the flowers are indeed strange, there's nothing I'm aware of that would correlate the flower path with the sprite's disappearance. I mean, I don't think the sprites have flower power (I should know: I've seen the movie, like, fifty times! ...neither bragging nor complaining there). ^^
Rudolph and Zoey follow the flowers to the castle.
Inside the castle, Stormella calls for Ridley the Butler to answer Rudolph's knock at the castle door ...but Ridley doesn't respond. Frustrated, Stormella goes to the door herself, and promptly grumps at her visitors.
Rudolph and Zoey ask Stormella about the sprites, but Stormella has no useful information,
"Why would I know where those sprites are? No one invited me to see their little light show anyway!"
Stormella slams the door on her guests (so much for being nice).
Undaunted, Rudolph and Zoey sneak about outside the castle. Peeking into a window, Rudolph discovers the sprites, trapped in a cage in the castle's dungeon! D:
...A cage with bars the sprites could easily fit through.
I think there's some sort of unwritten rule in children's media that if a character is supposed to be trapped inside something, they are trapped indeed. Granted, it isn't as bad here as it is in the world of Lego, in which most every jail has but three walls, yet those inside remain, believing themselves trapped until they eventually turn to skeletons (but I digress). :p
Rudolph and Zoey enter the dungeon through the window.
"We're saved! Rudolph's here!", the sprites cry.
Alas, a key is needed to open the cage ...but this story has no key-fetching foxes, so Rudolph uses the heat from his glowing nose to melt the bars of the cage ...which, of course, are made of ice ...just like those that imbarred our heroes in the movie.
Like I said, the cast seems to have become smarter ...but not necessarily faster! Before Rudolph could free the sprites, Ridley bursts into the room! D:
RIDLEY: "Stop! What do you think you're doing!?Those sprites are for my mistress, Stormella. They're going to put on a private show for her tonight. After that, I'll let them go"
Speaking of the sprites ...I'm not going to say what it is, but the sprites in the book are noticeably different from their original designs (and not in any good way), especially Sparkle: https://sta.sh/01g00xm9rot7 :P
Anyway,
Of course, Ridley is in the wrong here, so there will be no show! Rudolph breaks the cage and the sprites fly out the window! :D
RIDLEY: "Now you've ruined everything!"
Enter Stormella.
STORMELLA: "What's going on here?"
RIDLEY: "Oh, madam, I had a wonderful surprise planned. The sprites were going to put on their Northern Lights show just for you. I dragged them here in a magic sack. But their lights must have melted the ground. Then flowers grew. And these meddling little reindeer followed the blossoms and wrecked the surprise. They set the sprites free!"
So far as I can tell, the author of this book (Amy Laroche) wrote only two other books: Casper Meets Wendy, and The Chimera ...and for very good reason: writing was interfering with her day job (which she wisely didn't quit).
Ok, I made most of that up, but hopefully my point was taken: Laroche writes about as well as I draw! XD
STORMELLA: "Why did you catch the sprites, Ridley? Don't you know they can't be kept in a cage? They are for the whole North Pole to enjoy"
So, is Stormella nice or bi-polar? :p
Ridley expresses that he felt bad that Stormella was never invited by Santa to partake in the winter celebration. Stormella replies that her bot being invited is a consequence of her evil past.
Rudolph interjects,
"You're nice now. I'm sure Santa wouldn't mind if you came to the show"
And so, it was. :3
Well, that's the story ...was it any good?
For a 19-page book intended for children with intermediate reading skills ...yes?
I certainly appreciate the continuity, albeit, I am disappointed there were no cameo appearances by Slyly and Leonard. The two wouldn't even have required a write-in---the very first page of the book shows a crowd scene the characters could've been drawn into ...instead we get the elf from the mail train, and the doll maker (who is dressed, somewhy, like Shakespeare). :p
Apart from this, the story is fine, but I don't think it made particularly good use of the characters (Zoey is just ...kinda there).
The bar here was set fairly low to start with (let us recall what this book is a sequel to---the movie was a disaster, albeit a fun one! lol), so I've no real grievances here. :3
I think pricing on amazon depends on the quantity of the item on sale (i.e you can put a hundred of an item on sale for say $2.00 each,but once the quantity goes down the price goes up to the point that the only one of that item in known existence can be listed for nearly $1,000!(have a book in my possession that lists for $900 cause there's only other one in stock,not going to sell it cause its my copy^^) hope that helped explain things,nice pic btw and good job on the savings :-)
I think pricing on amazon depends on the quantity of the item on sale (i.e you can put a hundred
yeah demand is a factor too,like I wouldn't buy a paper clip for $20,unless I really needed it for something and I was someplace,where there was only one place that sold paper clips....but thats just silly^^
yeah demand is a factor too,like I wouldn't buy a paper clip for $20,unless I really needed it for
In this particular case what happened was a glut of supply. You see, initially the book wasn't TOO rare, but rare offered for sale. Low supply and a low demand conspired to make it quite pricey. BUT at some point people realized it was pricey, word got around. People who had boxes of 'worthless' children's books dug out their copies and put them up for sale. Who WOULDN'T wanna make a few cool hundred from a single paperback? This small increase in demand overwhelmed the supply and the price dropped.
The same thing happened with 'black diamond' VHSs. (Though in that case also spurred by rumors.) and in a larger scale with the comic book and baseball card markets (Where NEW issues became plentiful, destroying rarity value.) We're currently seeing this happen in the video game market, where a few scammers are manipulating prices then letting them crash.
Onto the book itself: Lack of vulpine. 1/10.
That said, Stormella is good? Well yes, you did wish for her to brainwash herself. What a way to deal with villains.
While there's no sensible link between the sprites and flowers, the logic is impeccable. The sprites have vanish, the flowers appear. Both events are highly unique. You can bandy about correlation vs causation all you want but the chances of coincidence are low, especially when leading to the powerful magic-user's fortress.
GENE: *Standing at the end of a trail of feathers caused by birds heading to his house to eat crumbs, looking at a 'MISSING PIE' poster*
GENE: Circumstantial evidence! That's all you've got!
The cage is made of ice. Sprites, being tiny, cool quickly. They cannot even approach the bars without the risk of freezing solid and thus are trapped.
Rids. Rids, Rids, Rids.... Steal the sprites AFTER the big show, so nobody goes looking. Or weeks BEFORE the show since nobody seems to check up on them.
ALSO Are you telling me the entire north pole is covered in buried flower seeds that will sprout when given a chance? That it could bloom like the finest spring, but they'll remain ever frozen beneath the cold ground just because? C'mon Stormy, give us a summer day! Wasn't that what the Heat Miser agreed to?
My theory with Stormella is that you can't just brainwash someone nice. That's like trying to make them shorter by cutting off their feet. It's a hack with all sorts of negative side effects. So Stormella is still a grump, all her old habits and feelings are there, it's just her motivations have been hacked away. It's like selective amnesia, the result of no character growth, just an instant fix.
In this particular case what happened was a glut of supply. You see, initially the book wasn't TOO r
While not really something I watch all the time (probably because of the countless times I was forced to watch things like this in my youth), when the illustrations are like this, it sometimes draws me in to watch it again. What can I say... I'm a sucker for cuteness lol.
I have to say... you draw the cutest Rudolph. :3 While not really something I watch all the time (p
I used to have a life-sized Rudolph plush from the 1998 film. Truly rare as they didn't make that many of them. And I mean life-sized as in, a reindeer-sized plush toy, which for obvious reasons, stayed unmoved next to my bed most of the time. I also had one of the fursuits used to promote it. I got rid of the plush (too big) and the costume (too small). I was actually offered another of the same Rudolph suits recently at a very fair price, but initially turned it down. And later the offer was understandably rescinded, though not for financial or price reasons.
It's unfortunate that I didn't photograph either of them to share. Bad on me as a photographer.
Since these comments are on to suggestions as well, might I add Kevin the Carrot, or The Bears who Saved Christmas (YouTube link)? My purple-hazed brain can't recall if you've ever done an ACO of the teddy bears. I do have both of the plush toys, however. And I might share pics of them this holiday season. Interesting side note: Holly from The Bears who Saved Christmas is also featured in the original 1996 movie Independence Day, in the scene where the President's daughter is carrying a teddy.
I used to have a life-sized Rudolph plush from the 1998 film. Truly rare as they didn't make that m
