Five years ago, Home Depot stumbled upon a viral hit with a 12-foot-tall skeleton nicknamed Skelly. The towering Halloween decoration can be seen year-round in some neighborhoods, has been featured in countless memes and TikToks, and remains a hot ticket — it went back on sale in April and promptly sold out. Now the company is bringing back a slightly refreshed version of the skeleton as part of a huge lineup of Halloween creatures packed with LEDs and animatronics, as it looks to keep its undead hit alive.
Skelly remains the centerpiece. The skeleton is going back on sale with a slight tweak: now those creepy LED eyes are customizable, with eight different presets so you can keep Skelly in style for multiple holidays. One of the options gives him heart eyes, for example, ideal for Valentine’s Day. If you have the older version, you can buy the new eye kit for $29.98, which means that Skelly is now modular. Home Depot will also be selling a limited-edition “servo Skelly” that’s animated by motors. It costs $379, compared to $299 for the base model, and will only be available online.
LEDs and servo motors are plentiful through the rest of the lineup, as Home Depot seems to be trying to top itself through sheer excess. There’s a 12-foot-tall animated grim reaper that appears to float, a 6.5-foot gravedigger and 7-foot-tall pirate with servo-controlled eyes that dart about, and a wolf that can snarl at unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. Home Depot has also expanded its licensing efforts with a 3.5-foot-tall Chucky doll that can smile with the right level of deranged glee and 7-foot Frankenstein’s monster modeled after the Universal Pictures version.
The full collection includes a lot more than I’ve mentioned, and you can check out more details right here. Home Depot says that products will be in-store by Labor Day, but “many” will be available online starting bright and early on July 18th. (They’re expected to be available to purchase around 5–6AM ET.)
If nothing else, this lineup of products is an example of how hit-driven every industry has become. The big box store where you buy hammers and 4-by-4s is now just as known for Halloween, all thanks to a giant skeleton, which became such a cultural touchstone that the Home Depot has gone all-in on the holiday. This year’s lineup is not only large but was revealed to press both through an online presentation and an in-person event in the village of Sleepy Hollow in New York. Like most sequels, the goal seems to be bigger is better — though it’ll be hard to top the charming simplicity of one big-ass skeleton.
+ There are no comments
Add yours