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 The BEST in
                    Animatronic Animals, Puppets, Robots, Creatures and
                    Characters! Like our website? Like us on Facebook! Recent Updates: 
 RIP Chazmo; his Candle Burned Half as Long, but Twice as Bright 
 TCS creates amazing Exoskeletal Legs for Netflix' "Yes Day." TCS
                        scores TOUCHDOWNS for
                        Super Bowl 2020 Reese's Take 5 Ad for McGarry/Bowen and
                        Dummy TCS makes turtle
                      tortoise turtles tortoises! Are we not turtle-y enough
                    for you? TCS creates Star
                      Wars Porgs…for charity org Magic Wheelchair! TCS pranks passersby with an Animatronic Gnomeo for a Paramount Promotion! 
 The Character Shop creates Animatronic Donkeys for a popular Chicago Restaurant Chain!  
              
 The Character Shop created an adolescent Dragon trio from "Game of Thrones" for SD Comic-Con '17 ![]() 
 TCS keeps things moving with our MRI
                    Medical Robot... Things are going swimmingly for TCS and our Travel Oregon Salmon... TCS makes the Holidays Happy for Best Buy! Check out the cool Puppets we created!... AGAIN with the Green Sliming!!? TCS makes a creature for Geico that kind of...grows on you!... WHO YOU GONNA CALL? The Character Shop! We created a Slimer (or two!) for the new "Ghostbusters"...  
                  
              TCS creates an incredible, 10 foot tall, friendly Interactive Robot for SXSW...  
                
                
                TCS crafted a strangely beautiful animatronic head for Steven Spielberg and CBS... 
 
 
 TCS designs and installs an insanely awesome Rube Goldberg Machine for MTV's Fantasy Factory! TCS
                            creates an incredible Kinetic
                            Display at the Washington Nationals Park in
                          D.C.!  TCS kicks
                          some BOT! 
                          As in authentic bomb retrieval robot! Recently used on
                          NBC's "State of Afairs"! 
 Diddly Dad-gum Doggone it! TCS done it again! They created a pair of realistic dog tails for anXfinity spot! Did someone call for a Robotic Overlord? How about a Robot Butler, instead? Something fishy is going on in Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. And TCS is to blame! The Foster Imposters have been making you laugh, buy chicken for 20 years, now! Add one cup of 'Shrooms to the Stuffing Recipe for a Trippy Thanksgiving! One Cougar iss Sexay. TWO Cougars iss verry, VERRAY Sexay!! 
 Your friend is fo' realz! He ain't no Dummy! Does a Full Moon drive a person crazy? Maybe!Mind your Momigus if you know what's good for you! A Blast from the Past! Rick Lazzarini and his work on "Spaceballs" Yes, we also do some Rentals. Check out what we have to Rent! The traffic getting to work? Ecch... but once in the building, not bad! How many Surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb? Yep, you guessed it: "Dream..." TCS supplies a Sleepy Speaking Sheep for Corona Light: TCS teams up with Mark Rappaport to bring a Possum to life for Geico!: TCS creates a crazy, cheesy animatronic goat for Capital One!: TCS creates an AWESOME thrashing Animatronic Alligator: TCS' "stuffed" poodle "Buttons" makes an appearance in a Capital One Ad! Hey, do you guys remember that time there was this viral video that was totally NSFW and had a Newlywed couple and the hungry bride eating candy on their honeymoon? We just recently worked with those guys (Cousins!) on *another* viral spot. It was so emotional! So much boviolence on TV. Won't someone think of the calves?!< You've heard of Cow Tipping. Can Rob Dyrdek do a Bull Flipping? Meet the latest addition to the TCS Menagerie: a (fake!) Stuffed Poodle! Must we always hurt the one we love? If it means tacos tonight, then yes. He's Sassy. He's Orange. He's the official Spokespuppet for the 2012 Ford Focus! (and he's gone MISSING!) "Napoleon Dynamite" Director Jared Hess chooses TCS and our Puma for Toyota spot! Rick Lazzarini and The Character Shop create a kick-ass, giant, animatronic Raven for a new Old Spice ad featuring Ray Lewis! Have a look at what it takes to create a gigantic, ridable Raven! 
 
 TCS triumphs with another breathtaking, huge project... TCS creates a beautiful 20 foot tall marionette for Mayflower Moving 
 See more of our incredible large scale and overscale work!: 
 We've made a special page dedicated to the different ways of making Hand Puppets! Check out a silly Renuzit Ad featuring a little TCS magic! What? Chickens again? Well, they can be quite delicious... Feel free to browse through our movies files directory! 17 feet of smoke-breathing, eyelash-batting, goo-goo eyed goodness... TCS creates Giant Dragon for Broadway Smash Hit "Shrek The Musical"! TCS also creates a Menagerie of Puppets for "Shrek The Musical" TCS' Gus the Groundhog gets an upgrade, celebrates his 40th PA Lottery spot! A recent Art Commission: Big Baby: 
                            
                            Got a big
                                set of shoes to fill? Call TCS!   
                          
                          Is there an Herbal Supplement to cure bad planning? Doubt it! TCS helps create another Giant work of Art: Rick Lazzarini and TCS create the first Animatronics Study Program of its kind! See the Animatronics Institute website at: http://www.animatronicsinstitute.com for the latest info. Animated, puppeteered, walking, hopping, "Annoying Fees" for a Time Warner Cable ad... Gus the Groundhog gets a 2.0 makeover, shoots his 28th Commercial spot, and helps the PA Lottery break records by helping contribute to over $1 BILLION in increased lottery ticket sales over the past 3 years! (updates coming soon!) Dancing
                                    Chimps for an Arby's spot ( update
                                  coming soon!)  A unique "Steampunk" action prop for Barry Sonnenfelds' new Warner Bros. TV Series "Pushing Up Daisies"... TCS creates a set of Grim Reaper hands for a hilarious Time Warner Cable spot... Have you seen the Arby's ad with the cat stuck in the wallpaper? Yep, we did it! Click the link to see just how much is involved in creating such a seemingly simple effect. Oh, the details, the details!< A realistic
                                        catfish for a Visa Print Ad!  A Water Buffalo battering ram for Bud Lite... 
 A devious rattesnake gag for the Jimmy Kimmel show. Rick plays the snake's "handler": Played as a joke during the show, it's taken off on the Intertoobz and become a bona-fide urban legend!: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/kimmelsnake.asp A
                                        cute
                                          chipmunk for a ComCast spot:
                                       Realistic animatronic slithering reptiles SNAKES ON A PLANE! (more updates coming soon!) We
                                        created the incredibly popular "Foster
                                          Imposters" 13 years ago. After
                                        a 2 year hiatus, The Foster Farms
                                        Chickens are BACK!  And a strange little marionette named "Fash" for Old Navy: ... Goofy animatronic chicken puppets for Perdue Chicken...A Pinocchio suit and animatronic head for DiGiorno Pizza......a wisecracking Ventriloquist Dummy for Sprint...A Chimp hand and Tiger tail for an Aussie Bank ad...More Gus the Groundhog Pennsylvania Lottery spots (we just shot the 19th one!)...Did you know that TCS did the character design for the pesky flies "Buzz" and "Scuzz" for the movie "Racing Stripes"?...A rare look at a Robot Dog that never made it to air...A retrospective page, looking at the work Rick did on Jim Cameron's "ALIENS"...We've also updated our Feature Films and Commercials pages! 
   The Character Shop is an award-winning special effects company that excels in animatronic animals, puppets, robotics, and makeup effects,. We are well-known for our innovative, believable, dependable, and high quality work. We have worked on many feature films, including 5 Year Engagement, Pirates of the Caribbean IV, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Snakes on a Plane, Aliens vs Predator, Willard, Sweet Home Alabama, Dr. Dolittle 2, Dude, Where's my Car?, Mimic, Escape from L.A., Operation Dumbo Drop, Outbreak, Hook, and The Santa Clause. We've been profiled on national T.V. many times, making appearances on Letterman, Movie Magic, Entertainment Tonight, American Journal, Inside Edition, E!, and others. 
 You've probably seen our work many times, and may have been curious as to who created some of those characters and creatures. Maybe you're simply interested in how those darn special effects work. Hopefully, you're a producer who has a decent budget for your upcoming project, yet still wants the highest value possible while looking for that secret weapon: a facility that gives the same or better quality as the high-priced shops, but with faster delivery, better service, and a dramatic cost difference. Well,
                                                                  you've come to
                                                                  the right
                                                                  place. Enjoy! 
                                                                  The
                                                                  Character Shop
                                                                     Simi
                                                                  Valley, CA
                                                                  93065    
                                                                (805) 306-9441 (805) 306-9444 FAX email:lazzwaldo (at) mac.com   
                                                                  ![]() A
                                                                  note about
                                                                  rentals and
                                                                  "off the
                                                                  shelf" items: 
                                                                  We
                                                                  get many calls
                                                                  per day asking
                                                                  if we have a
                                                                  certain animal
                                                                  or creature
                                                                  "already
                                                                  existing". TCS
                                                                  is primarily
                                                                  geared toward
                                                                  custom
                                                                  character
                                                                  design,
                                                                  development,
                                                                  and
                                                                  construction.
                                                                  Most of the
                                                                  characters we
                                                                  create are
                                                                  one-of-a-kind
                                                                  designs and
                                                                  their imagery
                                                                  is proprietary
                                                                  to the Clients
                                                                  who
                                                                  commissioned
                                                                  them; some are
                                                                  corporate
                                                                  mascots whose
                                                                  re-use would
                                                                  dilute their
                                                                  impact. Also,
                                                                  the functions
                                                                  in our
                                                                  pre-existing
                                                                  puppets are
                                                                  specific to
                                                                  the spot they
                                                                  were built
                                                                  for; the sheep
                                                                  that sits on a
                                                                  chair isn't
                                                                  likely to work
                                                                  for the shaved
                                                                  sheep that
                                                                  goes running
                                                                  into the
                                                                  pasture! If
                                                                  we've got a
                                                                  picture on
                                                                  this site or
                                                                  in one of our
                                                                  ads, it's
                                                                  representing
                                                                  the work we've
                                                                  done in the
                                                                  past, and the
                                                                  range we're
                                                                  capable of; it
                                                                  doesn't
                                                                  necessarily
                                                                  mean we've got
                                                                  that item "in
                                                                  stock", and
                                                                  ready to go. However,
                                                                  some of the
                                                                  animals we
                                                                  create are
                                                                  more generic,
                                                                  so hopefully
                                                                  there's a
                                                                  chance that we
                                                                  can help out
                                                                  your project,
                                                                  whether it's a
                                                                  custom build
                                                                  or otherwise! 
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                                                                  where noted,
                                                                  all contents
                                                                  are the
                                                                  property of
                                                                  The Character
                                                                  Shop, Inc. and
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