Homies: How These Capsule Toys Shaped Chicano Identity

The story of the two-inch plastic phenomenon begins with David Gonzales, who would draw a comic strip in high school he called “The Adventures of Chico Loco.” The characters were based on stereotypes of the people he knew in his hood. There was Smiley, Pelon, Bobby Loco and Hollywood, based on Gonzalez himself. Gonzalez was well aware of the limited representation Chicano’s got in the media. The intricacies of struggle and perseverance of people in the hood was flattened by the 1990’s hype against inner city gangs. And so, he took the opportunity to draw his characters with an empathy and sympathy not seen anywhere else. Lowrider magazine picked up the strip and after it proved popular, he began selling merch. The t-shirts and art sold well, so when Gonzalez was approached with the opportunity to start selling made-in-China plastic figurines, he jumped at the chance. In 1998, he released the first set of Homies. And the rest is history. 📋 LINK TREE: https://app.singlelink.co/u/torres_asdf 🐦 FOLLOW ME:   / torres_asdf   🍞 BECOME A PATRON: https://liberapay.com/torres_asdf 🎬 TIMELINE OF FUTURE VIDEOS: https://trello.com/b/i5PUGO1g/thought... 🤝 OUR MUTUAL AID GROUP: https://app.singlelink.co/u/SDCD ▶️ SUBSCRIBE ON PEERTUBE: https://watch.breadtube.tv/accounts/t... 📙 SUBSCRIBE ON LBRY.TV: https://lbry.tv/@torres-asdf:1 0:00 - Stereotypes 1:30 - The Homies Story 6:12 - Pushing the Boundary 7:26 - The New America 8:57 - Rebellion or Exploitation? The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. -Che