Last year during the ghouliest season of the year I wrote about a piece of Halloween candy that completely floored me as it was the single craziest, and largest gummi I’d ever seen called the Mad Lab Frog Dissection Kit (which was part of the Target-specific branded candy under the Edgar & Ellen heading.) Though I was completely dazzled by the kit, in particular the molding on the frog gummi itself and the concept in general, I sort of lamented a couple of the design elements (or lack thereof.) The set came with some gummi flies that were tucked away in a little baggy hidden in the hollowed-out belly of the frog. Personally I thought this was a missed opportunity as the set is a ‘dissection’ kit, and it would have been so cool to have to cut into the frog (with the provided plastic knife) to liberate the flies. I also thought that it might have been cool to include some sort of liquid candy (like the innards of a Squeeze Pop) to give the impression of a gruesome reptilian autopsy.
Well I was pretty happy this year when I first glimpsed the 2008 Target candy section and saw that the gummi frog dissection kit had made a comeback. It’s a bit smaller, though just as heavy, and I hoped as I was standing in the checkout line that it’s reduced stature and increased heft might mean that there were some dreamed of improvements…
Target ditched the Edgar & Ellen branding this year in lieu of their new Domo theme (as I mentioned in the inaugural post for this year’s countdown), and the new dissection kit has since been relegated to the normal Target monster character branding (as well as being a great example of the design of this year’s offerings, package-wise.) It’s been re-dubbed a Gummy Dissection Kit (a bit more generic to give room for other varieties as we’ll see in a minute), and is pretty much just a pared down version of last years affair…
Basically the gummi flies and a good bit of the molded details have been dropped, and though the frog itself has shrunk, it’s now solid and has an opaque section of gummi layered on top of the more standard green translucent base. As I plunged the little orange plastic knife into the tough gummi flesh I still had hopes that there was a liquid surprise inside, but I was disappointed as it’s just one sold gummy frog. Also, it’s still green apple flavored (not my favorite by a long stretch) so I didn’t really care for the taste, though it has a better consistency than the Flix gummies I talked about a couple days ago.
This year we can also choose a second dissection kit if the frog doesn’t float our boat. The gummi heart is a welcome addition to the stable of oversized (almost life-sized) confections around this season. It’s exactly like the frog with no fun little discoveries tucked inside, and is strawberry flavored, so it might be more palatable for those of us who don’t care for green apple candy flavoring.
All in all, I’m still a little disappointed at the missed opportunity of putting more ‘dissection’ elements into the candy, but it’s still a neat idea that I’m sure kids are going gaga over. Maybe next year, huh?
