Chuck E. Cheese gets a redesign

[SonikkuForever]

There are so many parallels to the Sonic franchise that I just had to post this.

But first, a little background for those who don't live in the United States:

Scattered around the U.S. are hundreds of franchised arcades/pizza parlors called Chuck E. Cheese. They are aimed at children and feature a rat character with the same name as a mascot. The first Chuck E. Cheese restaurant was opened by Nolan Bushnell (yes, that Nolan Bushnell) in 1977.

The mascot himself has gone through a couple redesigns and voice actor changes over the years, like a certain blue hedgehog we all know, but his appearance has stayed pretty consistent over the years, with minor tweaks in proportions and clothing. But for 2012, the chain is trying to appeal to today's kids who want a "cool" character with a redesign of their mascot. So instead of the friendly, fun-loving, New Jersey-accented rodent that we're familiar with -

We're getting a rock-star.

The "new" Chuck E. Cheese is more realistically proportioned, has a rock-star attitude, and GREEN EYES replaced the black ones. In another coincidence, there's also some very familiar-sounding drama regarding the voice actor.

Since 1993, the character was voiced by Duncan Brannan. But in the recent days leading up to the new ad campaign launch, Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment released a preview of "Chuck's Hot New Single", within which the rodent was voiced by Jaret Reddick, via e-mail to those who signed up for their e-mail club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7UC-py5RRw&feature=player_embedded#!ube.com/watch?v=d7UC-py5RRw&feature=player_embedded#!

After receiving the e-mail containing the mp3, a group of fans contacted Mr. Brannan to get additional information. Only after hearing the song himself and contacting a source at CEC's corporate offices was he informed that he had been replaced with Reddick. Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment, Inc. has since denied that Duncan was fired, and stated that although freelance, he is still technically in contract with the company to provide entertainment in its restaurants.

Green-eyed mascot redesigns FTW!!!

Edited July 6, 2012 by SonikkuForever

[LoseR]

What I said on Tumblr:

My childhood is screaming tears out of its mouth.

[Winston]

Dear God, that's terrifying. The last thing I want to see when I walk into a pizza place is a giant talking realistic mouse with green eyes.

[TheGerkuman]

I hold with Dexter's Lab's position on these kinds of restaurants; they are utter crap. Modernising the mascot may get more people through the door, but it doesn't change the quality by any stretch of the imagination.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Gerkuman

[Burnt Ash]

I....I don't know what to say about this. It's just....meh.

[SonikkuForever]

I hold with Dexter's Lab's position on these kinds of restaurants; they are utter crap. Modernising the mascot may get more people through the door, but it doesn't change the quality by any stretch of the imagination.

As one of the comments on the restaurant's FaceBook wall says:

"I wish they would makeover their pizza - it is like eating the world's most expensive cardboard covered in spicy sauce."

Also, the moral outrage has begun, with concerned moms worrying that "rock stars are not good role models".

[Salamander]

I don't know anything about Chuck E. Cheese, but if I cared, I'd probably be pretty outraged by this. As it is, it just looks kind of hilariously misguided. I guess that the original mascot was probably also meant to represent the "cool" of its day in an equally cringeworthy way, but the new version looks more like the vermin it is. A teenager with a realistic rodent head, that's what small children looking for tame entertainment want.

[...]

Green eyes.

Ruined forever.

[Octarine]

Are people really that attached to the original design? I mean, I don't care much either way since I never found the restaurant/kiddy casinos all that appealing anyway (not because I was terrible at all the games or anything, mnope), but old-school Chuck is frankly borderline Penders-esque. That nose.

Not that the super radical rock star new design is any good either, but really now.

[Match]

"rock stars are not good role models".

Because I look up to talking fucking mice that I only see in commercials.

[Jacky]

Chuck is a badass now. I bet that Chuck gets laid and does coke now.

Original Chuck was creepy as fuck in the first place, this seems very less so, CEC was always terrible anyways meh.

[VO.SUPER]

I never cared for Chuck E. Cheese. The only thing it had going for it when I used to go there were the arcade machines. Everything else was utter crap. The original model of chuck (the puppet) looked cheap, the second model was way too X-TREM for my tastes, and this model screams Pixar knock-off.

[Smock]

I'd imagine they're not going to change the inside of the places anyway, so whateveeeeer. Not to be a television commercial critic or anything, but from a marketing standpoint, the old design was pretty fucking old-fashioned with badly-animated commercials by any standard, so this was bound to happen at some point . Kids want photorealistic CGI animals, silly.

buuuuutt who caaaaaaares about chuck e sleazy

We need a Dandy Bear reboot immediately.

[---]

The new design looks like walking vermin, and I've got enough mouse problems. I think it's freaking gross and ugly. Whatevs, looks like I won't be going back to Chuck E. Cheese's, too old for it anyway. Plus the pizza is low quality, I'd rather order locally so there's not much keeping me there.

[Rusty Spy]

For the first time in ever, a redesign of an old mascot to make him more 'hip and cool' is actually an improvement,

Mainly because, ironically, he actually looks less tryhard than his original design. To me he looks more like a cartoon mouse that happens to be playing a guitar, whereas old Chuck E looks more like your nerdy dad dressing up in skate gear and saying things like 'tubular' to try and fit in with your friends.

I mean, lets be honest, the old Chuck just kept looking more and more outdated and ridiculous each time you saw him in a commercial.

[Xenos]

Ah, I remember having fond memories of Chuck. E Cheese....and now I can't fucking stand the place, I mean sure, it's good for a few kicks because I get forced to go there for my younger family members special occasion, but being older and more cynical, I notice just how dirty, run down, and crappy the place is in general. Glad I never found myself needing to use the restroom...ugh.

Although either it's an acquired taste, but I do dig the pizza...meh.

The only thing I like going there for now is the Arcade stuff, and I have to admit, they have some decent things in there, but it's so flooded with the rest of the crap it's too hard to notice.

Don't get me started on ticket prices. How dedicated do they think these kids are? 1,000+ for some really cheap, boring things. Sheesh.

And yeah, the dolls on stage? They are really outdated and not very nice looking.

At this point I can't believe I went here for most of my birthdays when I was little...

[Tornado]

I think the only reason anyone cares is because they did such a terrible job with it. It looks like a lazy "Them 3D movies sure are popular" cash-in circa 2001 and is barely any less of a 50-year-old rich white guy's idea of cool than the old one; which honestly makes me wonder what the point was in redesigning him in the first place.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Gilda

[Ferno]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7UC-py5RRw&feature=player_embedded#!ube.com/watch?v=d7UC-py5RRw&feature=player_embedded#!

I was pretty skeptical at first, but after seeing this in motion, I actually like it. No problems here. The mouse is actually mouse-sized now, and is less creepy that way, he looks like he's apart of the environment, and Reddick actually does a decent, similar, and convincing voice for the character.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Inferno

[\gunther]

Chuck E. Cheese always gave off this vibe that made me think they were trying far too hard to appear cool to kids (well, at least the version that's been around since I was little). Nothing about this new design really shocks or surprises me.

Also, I gotta say that he looks significantly less like a psycho in the actual commercial when compared to that promo art.

[Solkia]

Wow. They managed to make the creepy child-raping mouse even creepier. I didn't think that was possible.

[Soniman]

I think it looks fine.

[Linkabel]

Funny I just saw the commercial featuring the new design and all I have to say is................it actually looks good. Somehow I thought he was going to be human sized but they made him the size he is supposed to be. But oh well their pizza still sucks though.

[Winston]

Meh the only reason I ever went there was for the Jurassic Park pinball. They make good pizza though.

I remember mine used to have a Sonic Adventure spinning thing I forget what it did.

I still don't really like his re-design still, it's probably just the nostaglia. Now that I look at Chuck E. Cheeses, I don't care what goes into the nasty smelling hellhole. The only good thing about Chuck E. Cheeses' is their pizza.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Winston

[Your Vest Friend]

As someone who had never seen Chuck-E-Cheese in her life before right now...how could you be so fond of that...thing?! It looks horrid! Anything looks like it would have been an improvement!

[TheGerkuman]

Funner. Funner.

FUNNER!?!

My sense of grammar is starting to hurt, badly.