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Home Depot now has an app-controlled version of its viral Halloween skeleton

A big skeleton.

The summer isn’t halfway over, and Home Depot already wants you to start thinking about Halloween. After introducing a limited-edition animated version of its 12-foot-tall skeleton decoration last year, the hardware company is hoping for more viral fame this year with a new Ultra Skelly. At 6.5 feet tall, it’s much smaller than the original towering Skelly, but Ultra Skelly features more animated features, additional lighting effects, and the ability to talk to trick-or-treaters through a mobile app.

Skeleton moving.

Ultra Skelly’s upper torso and head can both rotate independently using motors, while the skeleton’s right arm can move up and down. It has LED lights in its mouth and chest, as well as LCD-screen eyes (the larger Skelly has the same eyes), which can display one of 18 different animations, including cat eyes, hypnotic swirls, or even the waving stars and stripes for those who want to reuse the skeleton for July Fourth.

It includes five prerecorded Halloween-themed phrases that play while the skeleton’s animated mouth moves. You can also record up to 30 custom 30-second messages with voice-changing effects — or speak directly through Ultra Skelly using the mobile app while it’s connected over Bluetooth. 

The original $299 12-foot Skelly will be available as usual this year, going on sale on August 4th through Home Depot’s retail locations, online store, and mobile app. The new Ultra Skelly will be just slightly cheaper at $279.

There are also several other options besides original Skelly and Ultra Skelly. There are new 5-foot dog ($249) and cat ($199) skeletons with animated LCD eyes, a new animated troll ($249) with a spiked club in hand, an 8-foot motion-activated animated dragon with a glowing and color-changing chest ($399), and an imposing 15-foot animated scarecrow ($399) with flickering LED lights in its eyes and mouth.

And, finally, the 7-foot animated Frankenstein’s monster ($279) introduced last year will no longer be scaring kids alone. He’ll be joined by a new 6-foot bride of Frankenstein ($279) with six animated movements, animated LCD eyes, and four prerecorded phrases.



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