Count Chocula's Makeover

Hah, I should've done this post yesterday! Any Count Chocula lovers?

I'm a big cereal eater, so I eat it from time to time. Couldn't help but notice how Count Chocula's appearance changed. It's pretty common for cereal box art to undergo changes, but there usually aren't any meanings to derive from them. This change in particular stuck out to me. Why? Well, these are fairly obvious differences but I'll point them out anyway.

First, he is clearly wearing blue eyeshadow in the second picture. Why? He's a mysterious Count who lives presumably alone up in his castle! Why would he wear blue eyeshadow? This seems like an out-of-place facial feature to me. Maybe he got bored with his appearance and decided to start wearing makeup? If he's an immortal vampire he might possibly desire to alter his appearance when he gets bored with it. I wonder how old he really is?

Second, his eyelashes are much more pronounced. In the first picture they aren't really emphasized. His eyebrows are also different, and all of these things combined gives him a much more feminine appearance, and certainly less menacing. He's the mascot of a cereal for kids though so menacing wasn't ever the direction the character was going, wouldn't really have been appropriate. Why did they decide to make him look this way? Well, I have a theory.

Some of society have been changing their idea and definition of the concept of gender. Nowadays it's not so much about if you are a male or female, but about what you identify with and what your preferred pronoun is. The pronoun could be nearly anything-- I've heard people get their instructor to call them "my liege", I'm not kidding! Some people find this type of labeling absurd, and some see it as a movement to popularize a basic courtesy. My theory is this makeover is sort-of a statement to say that it's alright for boys to be feminine too.

Are there actual implications from Count Chocula's change in appearance or am I just reading too much into something trivial? Let me know in the comments, I'm curious to know what other people think about this.