She looks fantastic!

You familiar with the source material?

Not in the slightest. We had Showbiz Pizza in my area, and would go to it all the time pre-Chuck E. Cheese's. Though went to Chuck's a few times as well.
But regardless, this is some really nice looking references for the character.

I've been on the lookout for concept art of the characters from this show for the past year and would LOVE to see what was originally envisioned before the ideas became committed to the budget economy of actual robotic construction.

Not familiar with this specific attraction, but I like this character.

Very cute.

I'm an old arcade spelunker myself.
I love finding them, and I can wander through one for hours, just enjoying the ambience and sights.

-Badger-

My disappointment with arcades these days is that they're no longer what they used to be. Now that anyone can have videogames in their home that surpass anything an arcade could offer (short of articulated cabinet stuff) most arcades are now stuffed with games that are all about dispensing tickets to be used for the purchasing of stuff in the gift shop. The games are short experiences with minimal gameplay progress and all about getting you to quickly put more money in. I've seen some arcades that eschew this pattern but only in venues where the arcade is a secondary priority to the main revenue source (casinos, theme parks, etc.)

I keep looking though and find my delights where I can.

nicely done. i especially like the emotion in the singing sketch. We had a place near (well, near being an hour away when you live in the boonies) us called Major Magics, which had a pastel colored fox in a majorette uniform. :) All I really remember of the place is the marching fox.

It always bothered me as a kid how limited the movement of the robots were. That restriction was like a wall that prevented me from getting really absorbed with the musical shows they were doing and was what prompted me to want to rush out and immerse myself in the arcade games. Years later (now) I can appreciate the design and economics of the production and I enjoy thinking about what such enterprises would have been like with the budget and technology of today to build characters that really had full ranges of motion and the ability to respond in real time to the audience. That's what I was motivated by with this picture; to illustrate the character actually having some kind of behavior that was nuanced to the song she was performing. I was thinking of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" when drawing the picture you reference.

I doubt Roxy was ever that foxy :)
I bet she sings beautifully too.

She probably sang just fine, but alas I can't find any video of the show where the audio is actually present. :/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbtHsJK.....n-by=cavitysam

This was a pleasant surprise to run into randomly!!

I own one of the (presumably) last remaining Tex Critter's shows. It was purchased by the original owner directly from the company that built them and then abandoned for years until the building they were in was being destroyed and a couple of people saved them, and then later sold them to me. It was the second show ever built. This show and its characters mean a ton to me and seeing these sketches made me so happy.

Here's Roxanne at the current moment- https://www.instagram.com/p/BdOJ3Mz.....n-by=cavitysam

There is currently only one other known Roxanne in existence and it's been heavily defaced with paper mache, paint and other things. The company trashed a lot of them after leaving them in the rain for a decade, and confirmed there are no more left.

(These characters are much more advanced compared to normal 'pizza place animatronics.' They use special valves that cost upwards of $1000 each that allow them to have super smooth Disney-like movement instead of being jerky like Chuck E. Cheese animatronics.)

Anyway, if you're interested in seeing more photos of my show or following my restoration you're welcome to check out this ongoing forum thread I have - http://w11.zetaboards.com/Retro_Piz.....ic/11643104/1/

Hah! Wowwwww.... you probably represent the best chance I'll get in actually seeing this old memory restored to it's old glory... very nice! Back when I lived in Los Angeles around 1999 or so I started looking up information online to see if there might still be an old Tex Critter show in operation and for awhile there seemed to be hope at the Sherman Oaks Castle Park, but alas. Tex Critter seemed to have gone out of business long ago. Surprisingly enough Chuck E. Cheese still exists although I think that show hasn't changed the robotics since it first was built? I literally haven't seen the Tex Critter show since I lived in Colorado Springs back when it was part of the Chapel Hills mall circa 1984 so this is a long favored and enjoyed memory. Consequently I'll be hugely interested to see how things work out for your reconstruction / restoration efforts!

Are you planning on getting the whole show running again? That would seem to involve whole lot of space and so I'm wondering if you expect to just have the robots on static display. Do you have all the material needed to make the whole thing operational? And if you do are you planning on restoring it to the original state? It would seem that with the amount of refurbishment required that you'd have the opportunity to modernize things a bit to improve the appearance and mechanization.

Thanks for the link up above to a video of the show in operation, -that's a neat thing to see again. Naturally my memories of the show are hazy on the actual performance and further filtered through the perspective of a kid at the time, so part of me wonders if the experience of seeing the show in operation from an adult perspective might lessen the magic of the memory, but that's really a small thing in the end. I'd love to see this back up and running when you get the time to make it happen. If you have any diagrams, concept art, or high quality photos of the original appearance I'd love to see it as well, -I'd love to get a better understanding of how these characters were ultimately supposed to look as it helps out my own drawing efforts.

Glad you liked my rendition of Roxanne... I didn't know that was her name, I just remember her introduction in the show as "Foxyyy.... Roxyyyy..." I'm tickled enough by the prospect of seeing this character return to life to try drawing her again.

Cheers! I'll be following your progress with interest!

Yes, unfortunately there's not a lot out there about this show! I've tried making a list of all the locations existed, and other places they ended up. One of the most infamous is Castle Park in El Paso, where they existed until around a decade ago until the park closed and vandals destroyed the show. The co-creator of the show, Disney Imagineer Larry Nikolai, estimated that there were around 20 produced. Unfortunately a lot were destroyed. Right now there's only two complete shows known to exist, as well as 1 additional Tex and Cal owned by a couple of my friends. Both are missing a lot of parts and were part of the lot that were left out on the backlot of the company that build them.

I absolutely plan on getting my show running again. Roxanne is SUPER clean inside and so is Tex, although a couple of air tubes in his head are cut. Country Cal, unfortunately, was abandoned by the show's original owner with his mask still on, and over the years it turned into liquid and melted inside of him. He's going to require a lot of work to get running again. Luckily my friend who owns a Cal will be coming down to restore mine with me as a lot of things require two people. Their masks will have to be resculpted, and I'll need a special control system to run them because of the special valves they use. Luckily my friend who owns a Tex built me a custom control system that he will be mailing me soon. I have the original maintenance manual for the show too that has tons of information on how to set them up, maintain them, clean them, etc.

Right now I have the show in storage because they are HUGE and they have very heavy steel bases that make them incredibly difficult to move. I've been working on them slowly from my storage unit. Soon I'll be taking Roxy home for a full restoration, then Cal, and then Tex. I plan to eventually move into a place with a garage to set them up on a stage. Not a huge stage like they were on in the 80's though, of course haha.

Here's some photos of Roxanne back in the 80's. This Roxanne is actually the SAME exact one I now own. So is the Cal from this photo set. They are both from the second show produced. My Tex is from the 4th show.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K.....ZgpjGvawIRGXvi
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O....._aiWW-5enLRXn_

Here's a link to my Google Drive folder filled with tons of Tex Critter's photos including a ton of photos of my show. https://drive.google.com/open?id=14.....uzWgugc58triBw

woah! <3

I find it pretty amazing that you were both around when it was still operating, both in age and in location, and I don't say I blame you for looking up information about the attraction.

You've done a really good job on drawing her and giving her character as well!