Old-school Chuck E. Cheese fans brace yourself: the franchise is dismantling its famous animatronic robot band. After 40 years of rocking pizza parties, Munch's Make Believe Band is about to play their swan song.
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The New York Times reports that the iconic animated band, with Chuck E. Cheese and Helen Henny as lead vocalists, Jasper T. Jowls on guitar, Mr. Munch on keyboards, and Pasqually on drums, is set to be removed from almost all of the chain's over 400 U.S. locations, except two (Los Angeles and Nanuet, NY).
It seems the plan is to switch out the old-school robots with more modern fare. With more kids getting their entertainment from screens, tangible characters seem less important to the pizza franchise.
Meanwhile, this development comes after the pizza chain fell on hard times. It temporarily shut down several locations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in the summer of 2020.
Chuck E. Cheese Fans React to Franchise Switching off Their Animatronic Band
Chuck E. Cheese reached out to fans over X (formerly Twitter), asking Munch's Make Believe Band lovers to recount personal stories about the animatronic band.
We hear you guys, truly? We believe in the power of play and the joy of being a kid, and will always stay true to being a place Where a Kid Can Be A Kid!
Share with us memories you have with Munch's Make Believe Band that hold a special place in your heart ? https://t.co/zKICZw5kbl
— Chuck E. Cheese (@ChuckECheese) May 13, 2024
Of course, kids at heart flooded X with grease-tinged memories of Munch's Make Believe Band.
"Preserve the animatronics and put them in a museum or something," one fan pleaded. "Getting pics taken with the band in March 2016 when I went with my cousin. They're the friendliest animatronics I ever met," a second fan wrote."
A forlorn Millennial mourns the loss of Chuck E. Cheese's longstanding robot supergroup. (Image via Twitter / @elihahisnotokay)
Other fans declared their plans to see Munch's Make Believe Band perform 'one last time".
A Chuck E. Cheese acolyte makes plans for one last pilgrimage to see their animatronic band before they're taken down. (Image via Twitter / @spindash54)
Meanwhile, other lovers of the band are bypassing seeing the group perform one last time in favor of salvaging the discarded robots.
Some Chuck E. Cheese fans are having a tough time letting go of the pizza joint's animatronic band. (Image via Twitter / @dereklehn27)
Indeed, when 80's pizza mainstay and Chuck E. Cheese rival Shobiz Pizza went under, '80s kids had similar reactions. Shobiz's band, the Rock-afire Explosion, was saved by adults with fond childhood memories and independent businesses wanting to cash in on the nostalgia. The phenomenon was profiled in a 2008 documentary, The Rock-afire Explosion.
Who knows, maybe enough Millennials will replicate Munch's Make Believe Band to also warrant a documentary of their own...
