One of the big television moments of my young life in the 1990s was the premiere of Nickelodeon’s very own cartoons. Dubbed Nicktoons, these were creator-driven shows intended to entertain first and move merch second. And that second component was a pretty distant second. Launched in 1991, the original Nicktoons consisted of Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. All three are pretty much classics at this point and all three brought something different to the table, but the three show format sure felt kind of funny even in the moment. Since all were designed to occupy a half hour block of television it meant that the inaugural Nicktoons block was an hour and a half beginning at 10 AM on Sunday morning and ending at 11:30. That just felt wrong somehow. Even though radio had designated a block of content as 3 songs, for television it felt like a proper block should be four half hour shows. Well, we wouldn’t have to wait long to get out wish as the following year Nickelodeon launched Rocko’s Modern Life to complete the block. The Joe Murray created show had a tremendous team behind it including soon to be household names (well, in animation circles) as Stephen Hillenburg, Tom Kenny, and Doug Lawrence.
Over the years, Rocko has seemed to remain popular, but not as popular as some of the other Nicktoons. For my money, it is the best show Nickelodeon has produced. It had the wacky, gross-out comedy that many associate with The Ren & Stimpy Show, but it combined that with something of a coming of age tale. Rocko is a young adult who only recently left home to make a go at living on his own in the 1990’s. He has problems that maybe the target audience didn’t entirely relate with, but could at least empathize with. Some of them are universal issues like how to deliver bad news to a friend or what to do about a crush, but then there were issues with credit cards and holding down a job. The animation always delivered out of the newly minted Games Studios, an in-house production company owned by Nickelodeon, and the show was able to churn out 52 episodes which was a pretty typical order for Nickelodeon. Only the mega successful shows got more episodes as presumably re-upping with Murray and his staff following the initial 52 would be more costly for Nickelodeon than simply launching a new series. By all accounts, Murray was ready to move on as well, but it wouldn’t be the last we’d hear from Rocko as the gang did return in the short movie Static Cling in 2019 carried exclusively by Netflix.
Because Rocko is so awesome, and because Mondo seems to have a good working relationship with Nickelodeon, we now have a set of Mondo Squads featuring Rocko, Heffer, Filbert and some choice little buddies. Mondo’s Squads brand is different from typical action figures. They’re somewhat modeled after maquettes, small statues often commissioned for artists working on animated shows and movies to help them visualize a character in 3D, featuring minimal articulation and occupying a scale that is basically their own making. The characters come housed in a pretty substantial box featuring the same artwork that was used on the Rocko’s Modern Life DVD collection several years ago. Jordan Christianson is credited with the package design which resembles a television one might find in O-Town, though I want to say the actual picture of Rocko and the other characters in the background was done by Joe Murray. The figures in the set are based on a concept by Joe Allard and the sculpts were handled by Brandon Gash. Mara Ancheta is credited with the paint while Hector Arce was in charge of the art direction. The figures are well packaged in a large plastic bubble and pretty much everything is wrapped in a plastic bag to protect the paint. There are no tie-downs and the whole thing is quite pleasent to access.
We’ll talk about Rocko first who Mondo lists at coming in at 5.75″. As I alluded to above, these figures do not occupy any sort of concrete scale. They’re definitely not 1:12 or even 1:10, but the goal seems to be to just make sure they scale with each other. Rocko is depicted in his traditional blue, collared, shirt with pink triangle pattern and brown shoes. By default, he’s sporting what I’d call a contented expression and his arms are at his sides. Rocko could be a tough character to pull off in 3D, but Gash did an amazing job as he looks to be incredibly on-model. The paint application is simple, but clean, as Mondo did not opt to go for a cel-shaded look. Instead we just have flat, saturated, matte colors that do well to mimic an animation cel. Rocko would be perfect if not for one thing that’s been bothering me. The shade of his fur in the original series was a pale yellow. I have a Funko Pop! that pretty well captures that shade, but for this figure we have more of a dull brown. It’s darker in person than in pictures and I can only assume this is because Mondo based their design off of the updated character models for Static Cling where Rocko was a bit darker. In that though, I’d say his fur has a touch of gray as opposed to brown so it’s not a perfect match for that as well. His shoes are also a little off as they’re a dark brown as opposed to more of a red-brown. It’s a thing I’m trying to ignore and just accept, but it does bother me if I’m being honest.
Rocko is pretty much a five points of articulation figure as basically all of the Squad designs are, but he does have a lot of extra parts to change how he’s displayed. His secondary portrait is Rocko’s frequently worn concerned look. He is unsure about something or maybe even a bit embarrassed. To complete the look he has a set of arms that feature his hands coming together at the fingertips. If that is a bit understated, he has a terrific “freak out” expression that’s partly based on his scream during the opening title. His mouth is wide open with his brain literally leaping out of his skull. The brain is held up in air with translucent, red, plastic for the brain stem and it’s quite impressive to behold. The eyes are enlarged as well, though not to the degree they are from the show. To help further sell this scream, Rocko has a second tail that sticks straight out from his body (his default tail has a bit of an “S” shape to it) and a set of arms out wide. The brain leaping from the skull bit is something I identify with the show so this was a great pull for an optional display. All of the limbs just peg in so everything is easy to swap on Rocko as well as the rest of the figures in the set.
We now move onto Heffer, Rocko’s gluttonous best friend who is a steer raised by wolves. Mondo has Heffer listed at 9.5″ so he’s considerably taller than Rocko, as he should be. He’s also practically a sphere with limbs and has a very light feel, but still has that high quality, Mondo, appearance. Unlike Rocko, his shading is pretty much spot-on and Gash did a tremendous job translating him to 3D. He even has his asymmetrical eyes and cavernous butt crack. The paint is once again clean and I like the addition of some subtle shading in places, most notably that bulbous ass. There’s also some nice, black, linework on the feet and around the hem of his pants. The only blemish, or mistake, is that Mondo left Heffer’s horns the same shade of yellow as his body and head. In the show, and movie, they were always orange as there was an obvious separation between skull and horn It’s a much smaller issue than Rocko’s general fur color, but a surprising omission considering how detail-oriented Mondo typically is.
By default, Heffer has a happy expression that captures his personality quite well. His default arms are also just at his side. For a second portrait we get Heffer with a mouthful of who knows what? There’s a right arm holding a blue, foil, bag to go with this look and a left arm holding a TV remote. The presence of the remote makes me wish we had Rocko’s couch and TV, but there’s already a lot in this set and that likely would have really pushed the MSRP higher than the already pretty high $160. Heffer’s third expression is a giant belching one with half-lidded eyes. He has outspread arms to go with this and while Heffer likely burped quite a bit in the show, this set really makes me think of his declaration “Give me a merit badge NOW!” from the short “Belch of Destiny.” It’s a good selection for Heffer, though I’m a little disappointed that the snack bag is just plain blue. Why no Pasture Puffies logo? And I think I’d swap the TV remote hand for one clinging to a handful of the green, spongey looking, snack.
Rounding out the trio is good old Filbert, the hypochondriac turtle who is probably a little bipolar since he can get aggressive at a moment’s notice. He stands at about 6″ even and looks every bit as good as Rocko and Heffer. If anything, he is the best of the three as there’s nothing obviously off about the design or the paint. I suppose one could quibble with the placement of his arms, but they kind of moved around in the show, but were almost always shown coming out of the side of his shell at about the same level as his belt. His shoes are also too dark, but it’s not really something that bothers me. Overall, he looks great and his default expression is more or less a happy one. He too has arms that just hang at his side for the default ones and like Rocko his secondary portrait is one that looks concerned or worried. His arms that seem intended for this expression are similar to Rocko’s where he’s bringing his hands together in front of him. His third portrait features oversized, bloodshot, eyes and arms with his palms open pointing forward, elbows bent. This is Filbert’s freak out expression and it’s a good one. He’s such an expressive character in the show that it would be especially easy to come up with more (yelling, angry, one with a heating bag on his head), but I think this selection is pretty damn good and appropriate for old Filbert.
And that’s not all, as we have two more characters to talk about. First is Spunky, because you can’t have a Rocko without a Spunky. Spunky is a slug figure with no articulation, but he’s sculpted in a bum scoot pose with a delightful expression upon his face. If you’re going to do just one Spunky, this is the way to go. The other included little buddy is Filbert’s bird, Turdy. Featured in the segment “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” Turdy was entrusted to Rocko while Filbert was away only for Heffer to accidentally sit on him and end his short life. To capture this moment, Turdy has two sets of eyes: one for the living, and one for the dead. His dead eyes, in true cartoon fashion, feature big X’s so you wouldn’t confuse him with a living bird. He does have a swivel in his neck, but is otherwise not articulated. Both Spunky and Turdy are on-model and look great featuring the same quality of paint as the larger figures.
This set of figures based on Rocko’s Modern Life was sold as a limited edition set on Mondo’s shop earlier this year for $160. It’s a steep price for figures that are essentially statues, but if you’re someone in the market for high end collectibles of Rocko’s Modern Life then this is pretty much the only game in town. It’s also sold out so the only option now is to grab one on the secondary market. I have no idea if this one is going to be so desirable that it will command far more than that $160 price tag (which also included an $18 shipping charge) or not, but it’s also the type of thing that is likely to only go up. Mondo on a live stream awhile back also confirmed that this is the only planned set for Rocko’s Modern Life so if you were holding out for a cheaper one with less stuff it sounds like that isn’t happening. Of course, if demand is there they can always revisit it. I’d personally love a second set featuring the Big Heads or a Christmas variant of these three. Such a set could feature Rocko, Heffer, and Filbert in their winter attire and come with a walking Spunky, the little elf character, and Rocko’s tree with a living expression and a dead one. Perhaps I shouldn’t start giving Mondo ideas since this stuff isn’t cheap, but for now I’m pretty happy to have these characters in my collection as it’s been long overdue. The best Nicktoon deserves the best toys and Mondo’s Squads is pretty much the perfect method of delivery, albeit not the most economical.
For more of my thoughts on the greatness that is Rocko’s Modern Life check these out:
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
After taking a trip to the past with Rocko’s Modern Life during the spring, it seems only fitting that I also take a look at the Rocko’s Modern Life movie from 2019: Static Cling. To be fair, the term “movie” is definitely used loosely when applied to this piece of media. Static Cling was originally…
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Rocko’s Modern Life – Season 3
My rewatch of Rocko’s Modern Life really could not have gone better. I suppose it would be better if it wasn’t during a pandemic, but what can you do? The show has been a delight, and while I felt Season Two was pretty much on par with the first season, I think an argument can…
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Dec. 10 – Rocko’s Modern Christmas
Rocko’s Modern Life may be the most 90s cartoon created during that decade. It’s certainly the most 90s of the Nicktoons, Nickelodeon’s very successful foray into original animation after years of airing other studio’s work. Rocko’s Modern Life centered around a wallaby named Rocko, naturally, and his journey into adulthood, which most notably includes self-reliance.…
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