Mobile Phone News:

I’ve seen a bit of talk online in the last few days about something called the Pucca phone, or to give it its full name, the Guccidoll G99i Pucca. So, I thought I’d best find out what it is.

That monstrosity over there, in the pic, is what it is…

*shudder*

Let’s get the obvious out of the way right off the bat, shall we? Yes, it looks just like a Mickey Mouse head with screwed up eyes on it, and the nose off a Wii-Mii. Slamming the Mickey Mouse look home is the fact that just above the screen, it has a Disney logo. So, quite clearly, it’s a Chinese knock-off, and the ones making it are about to get torn a new one by Disney’s legal team, right?

Actually, I wouldn’t bet on that…

You see, after a bit of searching, I found a post on Brand Review, about it, and it turns out that Pucca is a real cartoon character, created by Korean company Vooz Co Ltd. And the thing is, Pucca’s head looks just like Mickey Mouse’s, but with the screwed up eyes of the phone. So, what you’re looking at isn’t a rip-off of Mickey Mouse, it’s actually Pucca (oh, that sentence works on so many levels).

Ah, but what about the massive Disney logo stamped above the screen? Surely that’s going to get them sued.

Ah, well, y’see, that where it gets complicated again…

The Pucca cartoon may be made in Korea, but it’s distributed round the world. Would you like to guess who distributes it in America? Yup, Disney do. So, in fact, it seems the Pucca phone is genuine. Hell, it may even be a proper Disney product, if they plan to merchandise the cartoon they distribute in the US. So, there you go; the Pucca phone is pukka.

However… that doesn’t excuse it from being irredeemably ghastly. I mean, look at it. Any phone that looks like a football with ears should be burned at the stake. And if there are any adults considering getting it (you know the kind, the ones who dress up as Sailor Moon characters for no discernable reason… and yes, that’s me as an anime fan saying that…), take my advice.

Don’t.

Buy a grown-ups’ phone, like the Sony Ericsson Idou, instead.

Trust me, you’ll thank me about that advice later…

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