Toy OTD: Applause Rover Dangerfield Plush (1991)

It's obscure character time once again here at Toy of the Day! How many of you remember the 2-D animated feature gold rush that started to build in the late '80s with The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And who also remembers that Rodney Dangerfield once starred in his own cartoon movie?

If you were working in the feature realm, and weren't on salary somewhere at that time, chances are you probably worked on it (I was still part of the Not-Ready-For-Feature-Length Players, so I didn't). Many of the the non-Disney films from this period quickly vanished into the mists, leaving only a few toys in their wake.

I'm a big Rodney Dangerfield fan, and I always liked how the design looked like him, so I'm still drawn to the toy even though I wasn't that fond of the movie. I think Applause did a nice job of capturing the design in a simple, even-more-streamlined plush form. The colors are striking, the construction is solid, and it has a cute, sad-sack quality to it.

This toy is long out of stores, but since there isn't a lot of demand for Rover merchandise, it'll be very affordable - in fact, there's one for sale on eBay right now for $24.95 + shipping. Snap it up!