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Hi everyone! This section of my website will detail The Noid's history! I will attempt to answer who The Noid is and what makes him so special, as well at describing his triumphant ascent to fame and his eventual slide into pop culture obscurity! Please like it, I worked really hard on this!
The Noid was quite bold for it's time. In fact, The Noid was the first major mascot to actually stand against(!) the product he was advertising(the only thing that came even close was the Cookie Crisp robber, who may not have been trying to destroy his product, but was portrayed as a bumbling villain nonetheless). In the commercial, The Noid would try to freeze otherwise fresh, hot pizzas with his special freeze ray. But his attempts to freeze Domino's pizza all failed. While it was never explained exactly why Domino's was immune to his freeze ray, people were too enamored with The Noid to care. "Avoid The Noid" may have been the commercial's slogan, but audiences all across the country did exactly the opposite. Yes, America embraced The Noid's unique brand of dark humor, instantly propelling him to fame. Domino's Pizza, along with Will Vinton Productions, knew they had a hit on their hands. Domino's immediately ordered upwards of a dozen more commercials.
Merchandise? For a mere mascot? At the time, this was unheard of! But as fans had already discovered, The Noid was more than just a mascot. No, he transcended all boundaries to become an emotional and spritual icon. He represented all of America's desire to say what you think and do what you want, whenver you want. The Noid was beautiful and bold. The Noid was us. And we were The Noid. When Domino's liscensed out their character to various toy companies and fast food restraunts, people responded in droves. The toy line was a resounding success.
Toys made with The Noid's likeness were enjoyed by many, and for quite some time. However, it wasn't long before people tired of the inanimate plastic. While the product line's tag line, "Imagine an infinite amount scenarios for The Noid, and act them out using your figurines for an unlimited amount of fun!", was technically true, people at that time were influenced by 80's television, and therefore lacked the imagination needed to play with the toys. The public instead demanded something to hold their attention for more than five minutes. Something interactive, but not creatively or intellectually engaging. A video game was the most appropriate answer. The technological wizards at Domino's set out to liscense someone to make a video game that would please both Noid fans and video game enthusiasts alike. "Avoid The Noid" was the result.
In "Avoid The Noid", you play as a Domino's Pizza delivery man. The plot revolves around you delivering the pizza to the top story of a big, multi-level industrial building of some sort. You have to do this in under 30 minutes, but watch out! The Noid is on the loose, and he'll do anything it takes to stop you from delivering that pizza! Although the game had respectable sales, "Avoid The Noid" was criticised by many fans for placing the player in the shoes of the pizza delivery man--they obviously wanted to play as The Noid himself. Another thing worthy of note is that The Noid was a very beloved character. Even though he was a villain, most game players didn't have the heart to defeat a bad guy as iconic as The Noid. Also, a lot of die-hard fans felt alienated when they found out that the game would be made specifically for the computer, which was very new at the time, with a very small and specific userbase. Eventually, Domino's responded to the fans' demands by releasing "Yo! Noid" on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
In "Yo! Noid", players were able to play as The Noid, using his magic yoyo to defeat evil. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Fans weren't willing to dish out upwards of fifty dollars after being jaded by The Noid's previous video game outting. This, paired with the public's increasing hatred for the once beloved character resulted in poor sales for the ground breaking title. Today, with the explosion in the field of video game system emulators, a whole new generation of fans can enjoy "Yo! Noid" as it's creators intended.
What goes up must come down, or so goes the old adage. And sadly, The Noid was no exception. A lack of fresh ideas for new commercials made for over-airing the previously loved ads....which, in turn, resulted in people quickly tiring of the character's antics. Although the core fans loved The Noid more than ever, the mainstream public couldn't care less. Children everywhere relegated their Noid toys to the bottoms of their toyboxes, allowing other, more recent fads to take place. 7-Up's Cool Spot and California Raisin's California Raisins were now considered the "in" corporate icons. Teenagers now regarded The Noid as the Barney of their time.
In the picture above, a man dressed like The Noid (for promotional purposes) tries in vain to hide behind a tree before a gang of rebellious teenagers beat him to death. Not pretty. The Noid's reign had tragically ended.
Although The Noid wasn't selling merchandise anymore, his commercials were expected to continue running. However, slowly but surely, market by market, ads were pulled. Why did The Noid leave, and where did he go? There are many theories, but so far they are all purely speculation. But there's one thing for sure: fans were outraged, and most blamed Domino's. This led to more than 14 individuals participating in a boycott of Domino's Pizza. Unfortunately, the boycott was ultimately a failure. One reason it failed to work is because more than half of the participants had never even eaten at Domino's anyway--they only enjoyed The Noid himself. The fans ended the boycott and regrouped, to decide on another strategy to get The Noid back on the airwaves. So far, all further attempts have swiftly failed.
The Noid may not be in the public eye anymore, but the enormous response to my website has proven one thing: he isn't forgotten! I feel very confident that The Noid will someday return! Until then, we always have this website to remember him by! I hope you enjoyed this retrospective piece! Goodbye and enjoy the rest of the site!
