When the news came across my RSS feeds the other day of a new Gentle Giant DeadPool Corps set, I had to do a double take. Not because I’m a Deadpool fan, but because of a little guy included in the set … Squirrelpool. I don’t know much about the character, but the fact that he’s a squirrel and dressed as a member of the Deadpool Corps was enough for me to investigate further.
I e-mailed Gentle Giant about the little guy and to my surprise, he has some interesting history attached to him. According to Gregory Crafts, Marketing Coordinator at Gentle Giant:
Originally, the character was designed as an April Fool’s joke. He popped up on Marvel.com, then later on a variant cover to an issue of Thor. He was an unnamed character and wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. However, one of our product development managers happens to be obsessed with squirrels and saw the Thor cover. So, she contacted Marvel with a pitch to do a bust of the character. They came back to us and said, “Great! We love this. So, what do you want to call him?”
We dubbed him Squirrelpool and he was a surprise SDCC exclusive last year. He was a huge hit, so we decided to make a paint variant version available in the Deadpool Corps boxed set.
I don’t see how this cute little guy could be “undoubtedly the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on,” but then again, looks can be deceiving. Any squirrel that can wield a sword will get respect from me. Needless to say I REALLY want this piece for my office desk. I mean, how much cooler can you get than a squirrel that carries two swords on his back right?
Pre-orders for the set have already started, so what are you waiting for? You know you want the Deadpool family in your living room.
