Aaaaaand, we're off!
 |
| Movin' Right Along... |
I shouldn't really start with this one, as there really weren't any yetis in films this year. I guess last year's unprecedented double-header of Goosebumps & Minions might have deterred the Zeitgeist from including yetis in other cinematic efforts.
Most notably: the Harry Potter prequel "Fantastic Beasts" (due next month) has YETI DEARTH, despite Yeti famously spending a year with Gilderoy Lockhart in the novels and actually being canonically one of the Fantastic Beasts in the original booklet. Ahem.
Adding insult to injury, there was supposed to be a "Sasquatch" in the film - some scenes were actually filmed - but the character was ultimately cut.
Here's holding out hope that his paler Himalayan cousin shows up in the sequels, but considering how yeti-ish they made the demiguise (an honorary yeti this year, congrats! - see bottom of post) and how similar the general concept is to last year's Goosebumps where a yeti runs amok after being released from a magical object, the prospects are grim. I'm holding out hope they'll find a way though. Maybe I should start a change.org petition: Put Yeti in the Fantastic Beasts films!
Oh, also... the film of Doctor Strange comes out next month as well, and despite taking place in the Himalayas, and being more fantastical than the other MCU films, I'm pretty sure they didn't put a yeti on it. Come on, people!... Here's a graphic I just now threw together to help get the message out:
TELEVISION:
It's in the sphere of TV (which includes episodic streaming content) that yeti seems to have made an effort to show up in 2016.
The Curious Kitty & Friends - a lovable yeti takes a major side-kick role to the kitty purrtagonist - one of my fav appearances of the year.
The 7D - aired March 2016 - Season 2 episode 8: "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yeti!"
The Powerpuff Girls (new one) - aired July 2016 - episode: "No More Ice Breath"
Yeti or Not - an Animal Planet "documentary" special aired in May.
Expedition Unknown: Hunt for the Yeti, a four part reality TV series, is premiering tomorrow (10/5) on the Travel Channel.
Eddie is a Yeti - a streaming cartoon that is already getting his likeness put on products, like headphones.
 |
COMICS:
There were odd, pointy-topped yetis in a story-line of the Sunday comic strip Prince Valiant this year. They had ice powers.
Also, they were yetis wearing yeti suits (as opposed to non-yetis wearing yeti suits), which I thought was pretty novel, actually.
VIDEO GAMES:
Though nothing was as big as last year's Far Cry 4 expansion, there were still a few pixelated appearances:
ARK: Survival Evolved is going to be released this year and has yetis.
An expansion of Blade & Soul for the Silverfrost Mountains' Avalanche Den has more yetis.
Steep , an open world extreme sports game from Ubisoft, is coming in December, and as the trailer shows, will allow you to have a yeti costume skin:
Not really a yeti depiction per se, but Mei from the super-popular Overwatch has a "Yeti Hunter Skin". So there must be yeti in the Overwatch universe somewhere.
One of the best toys in a while - the Jumbo Foam Yeti from Animal Planet came out - just $20 from Toys R Us, a good deal as this guy is ENORMOUS.
Yeti Wing Kong, a winged yeti designer toy, was super sweet:
Mr. Cuddles by DexDesign deserves a mention:
As does Woo yeti from Giants:
OTHER:
The Fringe Festival had this cool, weird live show featuring yetis:
 |
| Yeti's Demon Dive Bar |
OOPS, I MISSED THIS:
Every year I miss some stuff from a previous year. It's inevitable. Here are my biggest oversights for 2016.
Be Cool, Scooby Doo!, Episode: "Kitchen Frightmare", Aired October 21, 2015:
Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Season 2, Episode 19:"Happy Hanukkah, Howard Weinerman!" Aired in 2014.
The kids cartoon Wallykazam! has a recurring snowboarding female yeti character Betty Yeti (pretty big deal!!) and I totally missed it.
And finally, there was another woman besides Heather Hudson that could turn into a Yeti in Marvel Comics. I neglected to mention Wanda Langkowski:
THE YEAR(S) AHEAD:
So, there's not really anything definitely set yet for yeti, but here are some places to look for him.
Film-wise,
Jonny Quest:
Release date: TBD
Live-action, Robert Rodriguez is directing and co-writing. Probably won't use "Monster in the Monastery" as its source material, but it is meant to be franchise, so who knows?
Doc Savage
Release date: TBD
Looks like director Shane Black is hinting there will be yeti.
The Hill (Matterhorn film)
Release date: TBD
Nothing seems to be happening with this one. :-(
The Abominable Snowman (Hammer reboot)
Release date: TBD
Nothing seems to be happening with this one. :-(
Uncharted sequels
Release date: TBD
If the upcoming June 2017 film gets expanded into a series, there's a possibility they'll use the yeti plot line from the second game in one of them.
Warcraft sequels
Release date: TBD
If the recently released film gets expanded into a series, it seems possible they'll put the iconic horned yeti in one of them.
Smallfoot
Release date: Spring 2018
Upcoming Warner Bros. kids cartoon - about a kid bigfoot?
"Flipping the myth of the Yeti on its head – it is now the hero, a Yeti, who believes humans really do exist."
More info here.
Littlest Bigfoot
Release date: TBD
Based on a just-released children's book by a New York Times best-selling author, this will be an animated film for Fox. The plot is about two 12-year-old girls – one human, one Bigfoot – who work together to keep the hidden Bigfoot world safe. The book is set to already have sequels.
These latter two Bigfoot movies seem to be the only big, high-profile directly yeti-ish things that are actually going to happen in the foreseeable future. So it looks like the zeitgeist is going to be all about Bigfoot moving forward. Sorry, yeti.
Book-wise,
Speaking of books...
Vin Vogel is releasing a sequel to my favorite picture book of recent years, The Thing About Yetis:
Look out for Bedtime for Yeti coming December 27, 2016.
TV-wise,
Elijah Wood as a Yeti in ... upcoming tv series Dirk Gently?
 |
| Tweeted by Max Landis, the director |
Betty and the Yeti is in development...
Description: Welcome to a world of intrigue, top-secret missions, danger, excitement and unicorns. Welcome to MMI5, the Mythical Monsters Intelligence Agency. Its mission? To protect and serve all mythical monsters around the world. And welcome to its newest recruit, Betty. Not so much a mythical monster, more a regular teenage girl who hangs out with some of the weirdest creatures you can imagine. Thrills, spills, mystery, laughs and friendship all take centre stage in this definitely hairy, not too scary adventure.
Toy-wise,
Game-wise,
Prey for the Gods is coming by the end of next year and has a giant yeti that you can fight a la Shadow of the Colossus:
Toejam and Earl: Back into the Groove is coming to consoles in the next year or two and supposedly has this guy:
And finally... although the designer Sarah Ford doesn't say it explicitly, these look like designs for a yeti in Clash of Clans:
There is a well-known hoax (end of post here) of a fake Clash of Clans yeti so it's nice to see a possible real one coming our way. Or is this an abandoned concept - ? and more fitting for the category that I call....
O WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Early concept designs for Street Fighter V show a yeti player character being considered. This is my #11 wish for Wish List 2013 NOT BEING GRANTED.
 |
| Source |
He was going to be a Canadian, but was discarded because it was "too Darkstalkers". Darnit!
 |
| Source |
Exploratory sketches by Alex Savin to figure out what the game Don't Starve! would be about show a possible yeti in the corner:
-----------------
Concept design for Tomb Raider Underworld by Paul Sullivan shows a much cooler zombie yeti than the boring ogre looking thing we ended up getting in the 2008 game:
These Legendary Monsters figures funded via Kickstarter were never made.
 |
| From Richard Todd Broadwater's Legendary Monsters series |
-----------------
The kids cartoon Rob the Robot never featured a "Yeti Robot", but Jakasatiawan Wirasudibya, who worked on the show, shared this design sketch, implying the idea was considered:
-----------------
And finally, there were plans for an "Enchanted Snow Palace" attraction at Disneyland in the late 1970's. It would have featured little animatronic abominable snowmen designed by Imagineer Marc Davis. Source: D23.com
HONORARY YETI OF 2016
Even though it's not even out yet and no one's seen it, I'm calling it now:
The Honorary Yeti of 2016 is:
Abominable Mention goes to...
1) Moroff from Rogue One
Not sure who/what this guy is yet since the movie's not out until December, but it has its own action figure and it's the most yeti-ish thing going on in Star Wars right now, post-Wampa.
Update: Saw the film and Moroff is not even in the thing. Oh well.
2) ...Monkey from Kubo and the Two Strings (my fav film of the year so far):
3) ...King Louie from The Jungle Book, for no other reason than they made him a Gigantopithecus:
4) ...And Demogorgon from Stranger Things:
 |
| Fan Art |
No comments:
Post a Comment