This story received second place children's writing in the 2011 NAA Foundation Youth Content Awards. It was originally published in the May 2010 issue of FlipSide magazine.
Every so often, the Charleston Town Center Mall welcomes the friendly face of a children's television show character for a meet-and-greet with customers. Recently, Plex, the yellow robot from Nickelodeon's "Yo Gabba Gabba," visited the toddlers of Charleston.
Have you ever wondered how the mall puts these meet-and-greets together?
"We need to know what everyone watches," said Marketing Director Lisa McCracken "It needs to be kid friendly."
When planning an event, McCracken and her marketing team have a list of characters that they go through and cross out the characters that have already visited. Then, they choose between the characters that are left.
After they have chosen a character, Marketing Coordinator Angie Paxton goes through a list of contacts. She finds the right one and calls or e-mails the company to get a costume. Then, the company sends her the height requirement for the costume.
If one of the mall's Junior or Teen Board members fits the requirement, he or she will play the role. If none of the members fit the requirements, then the company will have to send an actor or actress.
The Plex costume was very big and heavy. It almost didn't fit through the door. It consisted of a huge circular body, a cylinder shaped head, silver pants with a silver shirt, pinchers and two square robot shoes. The shoes were meant to fit all size feet so they were very uncomfortable.
This story received second place children's writing in the 2011 NAA Foundation Youth Content Awards. It was originally published in the May 2010 issue of FlipSide magazine.
Every so often, the Charleston Town Center Mall welcomes the friendly face of a children's television show character for a meet-and-greet with customers. Recently, Plex, the yellow robot from Nickelodeon's "Yo Gabba Gabba," visited the toddlers of Charleston.
Have you ever wondered how the mall puts these meet-and-greets together?
"We need to know what everyone watches," said Marketing Director Lisa McCracken "It needs to be kid friendly."
When planning an event, McCracken and her marketing team have a list of characters that they go through and cross out the characters that have already visited. Then, they choose between the characters that are left.
After they have chosen a character, Marketing Coordinator Angie Paxton goes through a list of contacts. She finds the right one and calls or e-mails the company to get a costume. Then, the company sends her the height requirement for the costume.
If one of the mall's Junior or Teen Board members fits the requirement, he or she will play the role. If none of the members fit the requirements, then the company will have to send an actor or actress.
The Plex costume was very big and heavy. It almost didn't fit through the door. It consisted of a huge circular body, a cylinder shaped head, silver pants with a silver shirt, pinchers and two square robot shoes. The shoes were meant to fit all size feet so they were very uncomfortable.
Playing the role of Plex isn't as fun as it seems. The costume limits the vision of the person playing the character, giving them only a few places where they can see out. McCracken even had to sign a contract saying that the role player would only be in the costume for 20 minutes at most.
In the case of Plex, Savannah Slaughter, a George Washington High School sophomore, was inside the costume. She has been on the Junior and Teen boards since sixth grade. Slaughter has been in costume for meet-and-greets before, as a bunny and a bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Slaughter said of the costume, "It's like you're blind, and it smells bad, too!"
Because of her limited vision, Slaughter had to fully turn around to look behind her or completely bend over to see the little toddlers. The entire time she was in costume, two helpers stood beside her. They told Slaughter where the kids were and were constantly asking her, "Are you okay in there, Plex?"
"The helpers are more important than the person playing Plex," said Paxton.
About 500 families came to visit Plex, but the Teen Board members helping with the event had to cut off the line because there were so many people and Slaughter could only be in the costume for a short amount of time. The toddlers' reactions when meeting Plex ranged from frightened to crying when their turn was up.
Some of the kids were so happy to see Plex that they didn't even mind getting hit on the head with his pinchers -- though Slaughter was unaware that she was doing this.
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