Raccoons are kind of bad boys in the furry community; you might want to watch your wallet and your sister around one. While they are rascals, raccoons do seem to get the job done, and they’re good to have on your side, even if they don’t always take the high road. For this reason, it’s only a slight stretch to see a raccoon as a kind of deviant action hero, and Rocket Raccoon fits that bill perfectly.
With his name supposedly inspired by the Beatles song Rocky Raccoon, Rocket Raccoon is for my money the most captivating character in the Guardians of the Galaxy team, a more obscure Marvel property certain to gain fans following release this August of the movie by the same name.
The Rocket Raccoon character debuted in 1976; his backstory is too complex and lengthy to go into here, but suffice it to say that he is an anthropomorphic bipedal raccoon who is an accomplished starship pilot, a master tactician, and an expert marksman who prefers really large guns! He has anger management issues, and a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder…but what raccoon doesn’t wash their paws often? Voiced in the movie by actor Bradley Cooper, the CGI Rocket is in part modeled after movements of a real-life raccoon called Oreo. Muscle for Rocket is provided by a tree-creature named Groot, voiced by none other than Vin Diesel.
One of a ragtag team of intergalactic aliens, Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy promises to be a breakout furry character…
– – Cernunnos is a righteous dude, and perhaps an early furry lifestyler! Also known as the horned god, Cernunnos is the antlered “God of the Forest” and often considered “God of the Animals” who is often portrayed as sporting a rather significant set of deer, elk, or moose horns; moreover, he wears them well! An anthropomorphic being, Cernunnos is often depicted with an impressive rack while the head beneath is sometimes human and at other times shown as that of a stag. The body tends to be human, ending in feet that in some depictions are cloven deer hooves.
– – Camels haven’t figured in commercials much since the days of tobacco pitchman Joe Camel, who was, it must be admitted, extremely cool. Now at last we have an anthropomorphic camel figuring in a Geico commercial, who parades around an office interrupting and distracting workers by happily asking them what day it is. The answer to the dromedary’s query is that it’s Wednesday, also known as hump day. Our two amiable musical hosts then appear, one asking us how happy people are that save hundreds of dollars on car insurance; the answer is that they’re happier than a camel on Wednesday…
– – A recent commercial aired by Walgreens shows a family of four returning to their SUV in a wooded area, only to find the vehicle already occupied by a quartet of raccoons engaged in merry mayhem; the rascals are into everything that they find within, one squeezing out suntan lotion from a container, another eating candy cherry slices from the dashboard, a third checking out prescription vials and bandages, and still another comically wearing a potato chip bag over his head! Needless to say, the family needs to replace some items, and Walgreens has over 8,000 stores to fill the bill.
– – You’ve probably heard certain types of vehicles referred to as “dinosaurs,” or perhaps as “big boats” or “land yachts“- -Well, in a commercial for the 2013 Buick Encore, the crossover vehicle has to navigate around a variety of dinosaurs including a stegosaurus, triceratops, and possibly an apatosaurus as they go plodding along city streets and even trying to park. The message is that the time of “big luxury” cars has passed, and the next big thing in luxury vehicles is small and nimble. This is somewhat ironic in that Buick in its day has made some of the biggest and softest luxury cars around; we also continue to burn fossil fuels aplenty, so perhaps the dinos shouldn’t be mocked. The commercial’s voiceover is by Kevin Bacon, and the music in the spot is “The Guitar” by They Might Be Giants…
– – Just when you thought that it was safe to get back into the water again, tens of thousands of blacktip and spinner sharks are migrating north up the eastern coast of the U.S., shutting down beaches in Florida!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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