The Nickelodeon Haypile. A little background.
Some of us know of it, if we happened to live that long ago, like me.
The logo was used from as far back as 1990 (pilot of Rugrats), and as recent as 2009!
The logo is simple, and is the most common staple of Nick Animation Studios:
An orange, bushy, bird's nest-like shape with the "NICKELODEON" word logo in white and in its 90s "Balloon" font.
Now that you have a basic understanding of what the logo is, I will tell you a tale of mind-scarring experience one night with my 4-year old self.
I was 4 years old, watching a Blue's Clues VHS, when, the end credits rolled. Once the Nick Jr "people" logo appeared, I shielded my eyes with my Dora The Explorer book, because I knew what was next. Don't ask me why,but the haypile logo scared me half to death because back then, I had no idea what it was based on.
Right there and then, I waited for the tape rewind sound to know I was in the clear.
Being that I was going to upconvert my Blues Clues tapes to DVDs today, I grabbed the first one out of that cardboard box of memories in that musty attic. For some reason or another, the tape I chose, Meet Joe, was not rewound. Much to my curiosity, as soon as I popped that VHS in the player, no little did I know I was to make the worst mistake of my life.
The Blues Clues book closed, being that it's at the end of the credits, leaving me with that nostalgic jazzy flourish as it faded to the Nick Jr logo of the two people holding hands. Just like my 4-year-old self, I shielded my eyes from what was about to appear next, and waited to hear the VCR rewind. Only, it never came. After a good 2 minutes I decided to give up and look. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
The most enormous Nick haypile logo was still there, covering the whole 32'' of my TV screen. To meke it even scarier, there was no copyright byline. Just an unidentified '90s shape of my toddler nightmares. I was basked in the orange glow in the midst of trying to get it the hell off the TV.
Nothing budged. Even if I pressed "STOP" on the VCR, it showed the rare "Err" message on the screen, and blacked out. But that orange pile of dried grass was still there. I dared to unplug my TV, scared of losing it, too.
I heard a flicker as I unplugged. I looked over to see, and fortunately, the logo was gone, from what I knew.
I turned to fall back on my bed. I hear a rattling in the hall. I close and lock my door. I watch through the security cameras, and... .GOD.
A real-life Nick Haypile was loose in the house, hunting for its prey. I tiptoe to the door, watching from the crack underneath. The thing stopped at the top of the stars, turned in my general direction, sniffed the air, and pounced right at the bottom my door.
Great. It has my scent, now.
Its neon orange paws reached as far as they could to get me. When that failed, it growled and slung its spit as it clawed at my door. It was hungry. Hungry for my meat.
"Don't. DON'T KILL ME!"
The haypile was smart enough to "stand" up to the doorknob, and OPENED MY FREAKIN' DOOR!
"*SCREEEEAMM!*"
The logo only found my scream a chance to knock me down and make me into his lunch. My childhood horror sunk its canines into my neck, drawing blood, only making him more hungry.
Here I was, dying of blood loss. Becoming prey to my long-remembered nightmare. To finish off the job, the logo stood back, looking me in my eyes with a "staring into your soul" look, as if to admire its work, and was supposedly beginning its feast. I wasn't completely lost, yet.
The haypile was looking to start its meal at my hindquarters. He gnawed a hole through my PJs, underwear, and I could feel his tongue sampling my flesh. Then,
*BOOM!*
I grab the thing in my arms, squeezing it as tight as I could in hopes of killing it. When that didn't work, I threw it out into the busy highway not to far from my house. In its own mass confusion, the haypile was running down the curb until it knew of what to do. Unfortunately, that black Camaro already knew of what to do.
*BANG! Thunk!*
After several more cars flattened the logo to a pancake, I had to walk over there anyway to see if I could be confident in the fact that it was dead.
...Uh, yep. It's dead. Ew. :P
On my way walking back home, I hear the "jazzy flourish" from the end of that episode, that orange bushy demon still etched in the back of my eyelids.
My VCR, when I got home, turned out to rewind/eject the video tape just fine. My TV I just had to plug back in. It turned on just fine,too.
Never making that mistake again.
Up next on my list of VHS's to be converted, was a Rugrats home-recorded tape dated from May 1994 ("home-recorded": recorded TV airings of the show). I promised myself to stop the tape right at the Klasky Csupo "Graffiti" logo, to make sure I didn't go through the same hell I just did (Rugrats utilizes the same Nick logo).