By Ed Avis
What do people think about when Halloween comes to mind? Costumes, trick-or-treating and jack-o-lanterns, right? You already sell costumes to the Halloween celebrants…and now, thanks to new NCA Vendor Member Mindscope Products, you can sell jack-o-lanterns, too. But not the kind the farm stand sells – rather, you can sell Jabberin’ Jack, a faux pumpkin with an animated face that talks to the trick-or-treaters.
“Jabberin’ Jack has a built-in short-throw projector that shows onto the ‘face’ of the pumpkin from the inside,” explains George Balanchi, owner of the company and inventor of the pumpkin. “The plastic on the front of the pumpkin has enough pigmentation so that light is not escaping, but the animation shows perfectly. There is a lot of engineering there.”
Jabberin’ Jack has 70 minutes of animation built into it. It tells jokes, sings and makes faces, all of which delight everyone who sees it (watch the promo video above to get a better idea of how it works). The pumpkin is designed to work outdoors, such as on a covered porch, but not in direct rain.
Balanchi has been in the toy business about two decades. He launched Mindscope Products in 2003, but didn’t release Jabberin’ Jack until 2020. He collaborated with two talented sofware guys to create the animations.
“They have the talent in content – they know how to get great talent – and we have the hardware expertise,” Balanchi explains.
In 2021 he added a snowman and a reindeer using the same technology, and just this year he launched Hauntley, a skull-like head that can be a zombie, a skeleton or a vampire. It comes with a draped garment so it looks like it has shoulders.
Hauntley
Hauntley
Here’s an important note about Hauntley: It was released too late too late for the big-box stores to order it for Halloween 2022, so if NCA members order them, they won’t have that competition. The Jabberin’ Jack is in Target stores, but only the orange version. Black and white versions also are available and they’re not sold in big box stores yet.
All of the Mindscope animated character products would make natural add-ons for your costume business, and the reindeer and snowman versions could bring in sales outside of the Halloween season.
Mindscope is offering a generous discount to NCA members, and there is no minimum order. To place an order, contact Balanchi at george@mindscopeproducts.com or Nigel Febland at thefeblandgroup@gmail.com.