When good claymation goes bad

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This story is from a while ago, but for anyone who missed it at the time...

We've all seen the classic robbery scene in movies or television shows: Masked gunman shows up, terrifies everyone, and makes off with cash.  But, alas, sometimes you just don't have a ski mask lying around the house when you need one, and they are not easy to come by in California, especially during the summer months.  So, if you want to be this generation's John Dillinger, you've got to be a little more creative.

Enter two would-be gunslingers, aged 19 and 20, who pled guilty to burglary last November after they were charged with robbing convenience stores while dressed in a full-body Gumby costume.  Now, I might be a little more understanding of the wardrobe choice had the first of their robberies not occurred in early September, when retail was on a back-to-school kick and still a good three weeks away from breaking out the Halloween costumes.  No, no.  The Gumby costume was not a selection born of necessity.  This was picked out at some previous time, no doubt with greater care than was used in planning the crimes it was used to perpetrate.

But as ridiculous as the costume was - in fact, the store clerk, thinking it was a joke, initially declined to be robbed on the grounds that he had work to do - you have to admit that if you're going to get busted for robbing a convenience store, robbing it in a way that gets you mentioned on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and all over other cable news shows is definitely the way to go.  Only just try to do better than Gumby when it comes to getting the loot out of the store.  Instead of walking away with some extra cash, the young man dressed as Gumby actually lost money on the deal when he dropped 27 cents out of his pocket before aborting the mission.

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