Post #213983 by bigbrotiki on Sat, Feb 11, 2006 3:43 AM

To me, these were always the symbol of how amazingly far the Tiki revival had come. When I first discovered one of those Amway/Paul Marshal Soap-on-a-rope Tikis (BOT page?) I thought it was the pinnacle of absurd use of the Tiki icon, and NEVER would I have expected something like this to be manufactured again. And then, VOILA!

We tend to forget that only a few years ago, nobody was even making Tiki mugs again, Bosko being the only one who was toying around with that "novel idea". What a big difference now, there are even some collectors now that concentrate on NEW mugs. I would have never thought of that.

And this soap is a well done product, a finely sculpted noveaux Tiki. Interestingly, the same design has popped up as those light-up-eyes Tiki lighters a year or two ago. The typeface of "Tiki" on the soap box above is taken from the yellow tile apartments in the BOT, by the way.

In my opinion, it's a moot point to theorize about the end of the Tiki revival now because they are showing up in 99c stores. It just means that for one they were kinda overpriced in the first place, and now that the target group is saturated and the manufacturer made their money back, they are being dumped.

As a special interest pop culture, the Tiki revival will gain new ground as old one is left behind, and I am looking forward what other little surprises will pop up.

(At the moment it seems to be new bars more than anything !)