Petco's 'Tahitian Collection'

Well, it looks like even Petco has "gone tiki"!

And I'm NOT referring to the Tiki Cat line of food products.

I was totally surprised last night when I stepped into my local Petco to buy a new filter for my aquarium and saw their new line of "Aquatic Decor" known as the 'Tahitian Collection'.

Formerly, all I ever found there along those lines was a cool little moai which quickly took up residence in my 5 gallon Aquarium. But now the influence of Poly Pop, and its growing resurgence in popularity, is clearly evident in Petco newest line of aquarium decorations.

Clearly in the "Florida style" created by Wayne Coombs, here they are...

I picked up those last two myself -- but NOT for my aquarium (THEY'RE too BIG and IT'S too SMALL!)... I got them as further decorative accents for my Paradise Cove home lounge, and they are fun lil' additions.

But now I'd love to see some pics on here of what other TC'ers can do with their aquariums utilizing a combo of some of these items along with various real or plastic foliage and other scenic pieces such as ancient temple ruins, etc.

My mind swims & bubbles at the possibilities!

Cheers :drink: :tiki:

[ Edited by: KreepyTiki 2009-04-24 01:57 ]

Love it. Are they big enough for little fishies to swim in and out of the mouth and eyes? My husband has been wanting to set up a fishtank again and I have been resisting. This may tip the scales.

They look authentic Tahitian to me...

Yeah, I've seen those at Petco. Too goofy looking for my taste...

Here's the Moai in my daughter's aquarium:

Some beautiful stuff! I think some of it could be used outside the fish tanks, as well...maybe for little kitchen and bathroom displays, and so on.

Those might look good in this aquarium.

On 2009-04-24 12:50, procinema29 wrote:
Some beautiful stuff! I think some of it could be used outside the fish tanks, as well...maybe for little kitchen and bathroom displays, and so on.

That's what I was thinkin' when I saw them the other day but they all have a large jagged hole in the back for the fish to swim through

On 2009-04-24 08:33, Kikkietiki wrote:
Love it. Are they big enough for little fishies to swim in and out of the mouth and eyes? My husband has been wanting to set up a fishtank again and I have been resisting. This may tip the scales.

A few of them are definitely big enough and a few may not be.

On 2009-04-24 09:43, TikiHula wrote:
They look authentic Tahitian to me...

I'm not sure about being "authentic Tahitian". One is sort of Ku-like, but others seem to be wearing feathered head-dresses almost in the Native American style. And while I've seen Tahitian dancers wearing feathers, I can't recall if the head-dresses looked like that.

Here's an example of the ones worn by the Mai-Kai dancers, which look quite different in style.

And as for most of the facial designs, they look a lot closer to Wayne Coombs, it seems to me, than to any Polynesian deities I've seen.

On 2009-04-24 11:12, Hakalugi wrote:
Yeah, I've seen those at Petco. Too goofy looking for my taste...

Here's the Moai in my daughter's aquarium:

That's the same little Moai I got at Petco a couple years ago and has since resided in my own aquarium. And I agree that most are too goofy for my taste as well. The ones I like best are the ones I purchased -- the tiki bar which has more toned-down tikis and the laughing Ku-like tiki with the torches which is more over-the-top but fun.

On 2009-04-24 12:50, procinema29 wrote:
Some beautiful stuff! I think some of it could be used outside the fish tanks, as well...maybe for little kitchen and bathroom displays, and so on.

I agree. And Ive found perfect spots in my lounge for both the happy tiki with the two torches (on top of my erupting underwater volcano)...

...and for the mini tiki bar. (Since I don't have room in my lounge for a full-sized ACTUAL bar, this one fills the bill rather nicely! lol)

And please note the authentic "patina" (i.e. dust) which Sven is so fond of! (Sorry Bigbro -- I couldn't resist! hee hee)

Cheers :drink: :tiki:

O.k., Paul, you asked for it :D. Now that you have invoked my name, here's my honest review:

Nice in concept as they may be, these aquarium dwellers are too CUTESY and cartoony for my taste -but like 80s cartoony, and not the inspired mid-century, modernist cartoony I associate with Tiki style, (and which is so present in today's cartoons). Nor do these have any connection to Polynesian or Oceanic art, but are (most of them) unimaginative variations on one very rudimentary design. Classical case of Asian designed and manufactured, using only Tiki revival art as a source and thus turning in circles, artistically. I'll give them one thing, they ARE recognizable as Tikis, that is more than some of that import stuff out there nowadays can claim.

Ah, Sven... Mincing your words again, eh? :wink:

Well, guess what? I happen to agree with every word you said!

Yep! No argument.

And I think your words apply especially to most of the stuff I photographed but did not BUY. As for the two items I DID get, I'm a sucker for just about any depiction of a tiki bar, no matter how corny. Don't ask me why, 'cause I don't know myself. Heck, I even picked up a couple of those tiki-shack style BIRDHOUSES over the years and customized the heck outta 'em!

And as for the little happy sorta-Ku-like tiki with the two torches, yep, it's pretty cutesy and 80's cartoony, but for some reason I just think he looks appealing in the spot I have him.

And I guess I was just so pleasantly surprised to see so many tiki themed items -- NON Polynesian/Oceanic though they may be -- in a place where I little expected to see them, that I let my critical faculties take a back seat.

But hey -- I'm under no delusion that these constitute legitimate contempo tiki ART. AND I still have the receipts, Sven. So if you think they clash with or lower the overall integrity of my lounge, I might give some thought to returning them.

Make no mistake -- in the matter of things I passionately like, I let NO ONE influence me. If someone else doesn't like it, too damn bad. But in this particular instance...we'll see.

(By the way, it was great visiting with you and Naomi last night!)

[ Edited by: KreepyTiki 2009-04-26 07:40 ]

How did I miss the fish tank thread?!.....

Yeah, those aquarium moai are cool. Gotta look for some of those. Even though I don't have an aquariam.... :lol:

TheBigT wrote:

Yeah, those aquarium moai are cool. Gotta look for some of
those. Even though I don't have an aquariam.... :lol:

Sorta related. McDonald's was featuring Happy Meal toys from
the movie "Night At The Museum" (sequel) a couple of weeks ago
and they had a Moai toy. Unfortunately, I didn't get one when
I ordered a few HM, trying various times to get one. I'm going
to ask managemnet at my local Mickey D's whether they have any
left and ask if they can part with them at the end of the year
when they give out 2 for 1 toys that are "retired" to get them
out of the storage room.

I wouldn't count on ther e being any left - apparently Dum-Dum is EVERYone's favorite character! Kids totally dig him and his chewing gum. Good luck though!

On 2009-06-28 12:58, tikigik wrote:

TheBigT wrote:

Yeah, those aquarium moai are cool. Gotta look for some of
those. Even though I don't have an aquariam.... :lol:

Sorta related. McDonald's was featuring Happy Meal toys from
the movie "Night At The Museum" (sequel) a couple of weeks ago
and they had a Moai toy. Unfortunately, I didn't get one when
I ordered a few HM, trying various times to get one. I'm going
to ask managemnet at my local Mickey D's whether they have any
left and ask if they can part with them at the end of the year
when they give out 2 for 1 toys that are "retired" to get them
out of the storage room.

Kreepy - I have that same volcano and I just dug it out and found that the lights still work but apparently my volcano is now dormant! I tore it open and the pump is completely unreachable. So it makes for a good light show though. Oh, and I just noticed the ashtray directly in front of your volcano - I have the same one! Great minds think alike?