I Found Waldo!

Okay, finally something I didn't throw away turns out to be a good thing. Does anyone remember Where's Waldo? I worked as an illustrator for the U.S. branch of the company they opened in Glendale in the mid 90's. Other than the books, which you can now find in the bargain bins at Kmart, a fairly unsuccessful merchandising campaign, and the occasional leftover can of Where's Waldo Spaghetti-O's that mysteriously turns up on your grocery store shelf, the Waldo gimmick died pretty quickly. While most of the merchandise they licensed seemed fairly ill-conceived because they lost touch with the whole seek-and-find aspect of the Where's Waldo character, one of the products they produced that I thought was kind of fun and interesting was the Where's Waldo glitter wand; a clear plastic tube about twelve inches long. It was filled with liquid and sparkly stuff that also contained a mini Waldo measuring only about two-eighths of an inch tall. You could easily spend an hour trying to find him. They probably sold for about two dollars when they first came out, but now they're selling on Ebay for anywhere between fifty and one-hundred dollars. I found a box of them in my garage a couple of days ago.