Then again, what’s not to like—there’s a Mr. Men or Little Miss character to suit everyone, and they’re so delightfully goofy, they appeal to kids (and adults) of all ages.

Well, we’re thrilled to announce that the Mr. Men Store here at Ty’s has been revamped and restocked and now carries just about anything you could possibly want for your favorite Mr. Men and Little Miss enthusiast. From personalized clothing to books and DVDs to toys and games, if it’s Mr. Men or Little Miss themed, you’ll find it here.

Now, don’t make me launch into a story that starts, “Back in my day, we only had little square Mr. Men books, and they cost a dollar apiece, and we liked it….” Because I totally will, and a story like that can only end with, “You darn kids get off of my lawn.”

So yeah, the characters have been around for a while. But they’re still awesome, and it’s always fun to watch your kids fall in love with something you loved as a kid.

… and the other part of me realizes that I am remembering through rose-colored glasses that have quickly forgotten the cry of “Mom! We’re bored! What should we do?”

Ahem.

Anyway! Soon we’ll be back in the classroom; my little darlings will be learning important lessons, and I’ll be being hit up for Kleenex and hand sanitizer. It’s the circle of life! Or at least, the circle of public school!

Ty’s Toy Box understands that getting them there in the right mood is half the battle, so feel free to check out the new Back To School Store for all of your back-to-school needs. There’s enough backpacks in there to delight even the most hard-to-please kid, from Thomas the Tank Engine to Avatar to Dora to Hannah Montana.

(Funny, for some reason my daughter is still balking at my suggestion of the Little Miss Trouble bag. I cannot imagine why.)

Hey, I know summer flew by, but at least getting ready for back to school can be fun!

If you’re a fan, you likely already know that the show has an official Cartoon Network site, as well as an international official website. And it’s possible that you even checked into the Ty’s Mr. Men and Little Miss Store, before, although if you haven’t been there for a while, you’ll want to check again. (This Little Miss Chatterbox hat is new, for example, and I can think of several little girls who need that hat.)

I have a couple of goodies for you that you may not have already seen.

First, I don’t know how I missed it, last month, but Animation World Magazine’s Joe Strike did a great piece on how the show came to be. It includes little insights into character changes like this one:

Cartoon Network asked for — and got — a slight trim in the number of female characters and a more “boy-centric” attitude in the show’s humor. “The network was afraid it would turn off boy audiences,” says Casemiro, “so we dropped Little Miss Fickle, Miss Fabulous and the Little Miss Twins. They weren’t from the books, we invented them for the show. There were a lot of negative female characters in the original books: Little Miss Scatterbrain, Little Miss Stubborn… we had to realign them, make the Little Misses a little more positive.”

So that’s how Miss Calamity came about. (And all this time I just thought it was because her name is funny.)

Second—and this is positively awesome—did you know that there’s a Mr. Men Show Blog? There is! It’s listed as being written by executive producer Kurt Mueller, although most of the postings I’m seeing are authored by someone named Sarah. (Sarah, who are you?) Either way, it’s a bit of behind-the-scenes information, as well as your chance to talk back to the folks who work on the show. Pretty cool.

Haven’t caught Mr. Men fever yet? Check out the links I gave you, and tune in to Cartoon Network weekdays at 9:00. Just try not to find it charming—I dare you.

Sixty-five yeses, in fact. (Although the first comment was apparently an old friend of Ty’s trying to find him. Are you hiding, Ty? Maybe she just didn’t want to admit that she’s always wanted a Mr. Men luggage tag.)

Let’s face it: Free stuff rocks. Especially cute free stuff featuring characters your kids love. And with 65 entries for 5 prize packs, that means that your odds of winning were 1 in 13 (not bad). It’s not the Publisher’s Clearing House, but at least your odds of winning were a lot better.

Anyway! The random number generator has spoken, er, generated. Our contest winners are commenters number 4, 11, 58, 29, and 38! Hooray!

Oh, did you want to know who those were? Picky, picky. Okay, that’s ~moe~, virginia, RAN, desi, and DW! If one of those people is you, please check your email—I’ve sent you a confirmation and need you to respond with a mailing address so that Ty’s can get your prize out to you. You’ll each receive the Mr. Men and Little miss luggage tags, a Noddy keychain puzzle, and a Noddy pen.

Thanks to everyone who played! Don’t forget that there’s new merchandise being added to the Noddy and Mr. Men/Little Miss stores at Ty’s, so check back often.

And who knows… maybe we’ll have another contest here. I could get used to giving out cool stuff—I sort of feel like Santa Claus. Ho, ho, ho!

Stop looking at me like that.

Promotional items are great fun, because it’s somewhat up to the discretion of the licensee (that would be Ty’s, in this case) as to how they’ll be distributed. For example: Starting today (March 24th, 2008), spend $50 at Ty’s Toy Box (either in the Noddy Store or elsewhere at Ty’s) and you’ll receive a Noddy keychain free with your order.

Nice, right?

I love getting a bonus-with-purchase item, myself. I do. But what I like even more is winning something absolutely free, because I’m cheap like that. And I figured that if that’s what I like best, it was a good bet that some of you Ty’s shoppers and faithful readers would like that, too.

So here’s the deal: Five lucky readers of the blog are going to win a promotional prize pack. Each pack contains a Mr. Men luggage tag, a Little Miss luggage tag, a Noddy keychain, and a Noddy pen. Have a look:

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment on this post by noon on Sunday, March 30th, 2008. Your comment should tell me which Noddy or Mr. Men/Little Miss item you think your child would like the most, and please be sure to leave a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win.

Winners will be announced on Monday, March 31st, 2008—one week from today. Leave a comment and you could be one of the lucky ones!

Next, I want to tell you a little bit about two exciting new lines here at Ty’s which you may or may not have noticed, yet. I don’t know about you, but oftentimes I find that Ty’s is bringing in so many cool new things, I can’t possibly keep track of them all without a spreadsheet. Seeing as how most people are not going to resort to a spreadsheet to keep track of things (okay, it’s possible I’m a wee bit compulsive about this stuff), consider me your crib sheet.

If you haven’t met Noddy yet, you can learn all about this great PBS show for preschoolers over on their targeted site. They characterize Noddy this way:

Noddy is a little wooden boy who lives in his own little House-for-One in Toyland. Noddy got his name because his head is on a spring and when he gets excited his head just can’t stop nodding!

(In France, Noddy goes by the name Oui-Oui, which I know means “Yes Yes,” yet my inner 10-year-old boy finds it hilarious. Just sayin’.)

And then once your child becomes completely hooked on Noddy and his pals, come check out the Noddy Store here at Ty’s.

In addition, you may have noticed the new Mr. Men and Little Miss Store here at Ty’s, dedicated to all of those quirky little personalities starring in the book series and Cartoon Network series of the same title. (Oh, look! They even make a tote bag with my daughter on it! That was awfully nice of them.)

And you can of course learn more about the Mr. Men and Little Misses on their site, although they’re pretty self-explanatory, I think. (Hmmm… I wonder what Mr. Grumpy is like….)

Anyway, we’re excited to welcome Noddy and the Mr. Men gang to Ty’s, and hope you’ll enjoy them, too. And who knows—you might find one of those giant Easter eggs while you’re browsing!

If you don’t know the series, each eponymous Mr. or Miss has a life tale based on their particular characteristic. Mr. Bump, for example, is always running into things. Obviously. Little Miss Bossy is, um, my daughter. Er. I mean, well, she’s bossy. You get the idea.

What made fun little books sounds like a natural property for a cartoon series, and now Chorion Ltd. has announced that Cartoon Network will be the U.S. home of The Mr. Men Show in 2008:

With a blend of side-splitting, fast-paced physical humor and verbal wit, The Mr. Men Show is the first animated program to bring sketch comedy to young children.

Twenty-five Mr. Men and Little Miss characters will be featured in the new series. To complement the new animation style, some of the characters are being refreshed and some completely re-worked — but all will remain true to the essence of the original Mr. Men and Little Miss creations.

Brought to life by talented writer-producers Kate Boutilier and Eryk Casemiro, the series is being animated in Los Angeles by Renegade Animation. Boutilier and Casemiro have achieved worldwide success with animated properties such as “Rugrats”, “The Wild Thornberrys” and “Rugrats in Paris”. Renegade has delivered three seasons of “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi” to Cartoon Network US.

“Fast-paced physical humor?” So, they’ll be slipping on banana peels at high speeds?

I was actually so excited about this news, I went poking around online and discovered that the Mr. Men and Little Miss crew already has a interactive website where you can reacquaint yourself with all your favorite characters (oh! Mr. Daydream! He was my favorite!). There’s also all sorts of fun for the kids on there, from printables to games they can play. (You do need to register for full site access, but registration is free.) At the very least, you can amuse yourself there for a while until the debut of the show next year.

[Edited to add: Great minds think alike! The same day I posted this, Animation Insider wrote a piece about it as well.]