The meteoric rise of Justen Case to mascot fame began in his Southern California hometown of Canoga Park. Driven by the VHS explosion, the San Fernando Valley’s economic engine depended on the adult film industry. As a single parent, Justen’s father Dirk spent little time at home while perfecting the adult film genre known as “Furries.” An impressionable Justen was exposed to this odd sexual fetish. Not fully understanding the implications, he began to create his own “furry” mascot costumes.While attending a Padres game, Justen found inspiration in his future mentor – the San Diego Chicken. He worked day and night for a week to create the Golden Beaver, the new mascot of his high school basketball team. Under the tutelage of the San Diego chicken (a close friend of Justen’s father), Justen mascotted his team to 4 consecutive state championships.
San Diego Chicken: “The kid was naturally talented. And in exchange for a part in ‘Furries do Dallas,’ I promised his father that I would help him become the world’s greatest mascot. I had no idea what fame would do to him.”
Justen’s success in high school did not go unnoticed leading to offers from colleges, pro sports and huge corporations looking to boost their mascot talent.
One offer stood out from the rest – Konami asked him to headline their latest basketball simulator, “Double Dribble”. At 21 years old, Justen Case became the Los Angeles “Blue Lake.”
Justen was flying high – the women, the parties, offers from NES rival EA Sports to work as a sideline reporter in their new “Lakers vs. Celtics” title – he had it all. Unfortunately Justen, unaccustomed to this new found fame, got caught up in the hype.
Mario Mario: (Ceo of Nintendo Entertainment Systems and star of the “Super Mario Bros.” Series) “In the early days of the NES we were all on the same team trying to get it going. Justen became a PR person’s nightmare, getting in bar fights, doing lines off of the cheerleaders from Tecmo Bowl and generally causing a lot of headaches for Nintendo.“
Don Flemenco: “The NES was getting {expletive deleted} huge and we were all riding the gravy train. That {expletive deleted} mascot brought heat from Congress and Tipper Gore. He {expletive deleted} it up for everyone! “
Justen hit an all time low on July 5, 1988 when he got into an acid induced altercation with Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav at a trendy Manhattan night club.
Flavor Flav: “That bitch comes walkin’ into the club like Rick James sportin’ his little “Blue Lake” costume. The hoes I was with ditches me and runs over to him. You see cause he can’t go nowhere without that damn costume, less nobody knows who he is. So he comes up to me and starts dissin on my time piece neckwear. This punk in a blue blob costume, so I cold cocked him in the back of the head and he went down hard. Mother {expletive deleted} deserved it.”
Nothing was the same after that night. In an attempt to quietly remove Justen from the public eye, Nintendo released an onslaught of basketball simulators and eventually drowned “Double Dribble” out of the market. By the time Nintendo was done, Case was mascot poison and nobody would touch him. Jobless, homeless and single, Case moved back in with his father, took over the family business and started his own genre of adult films called, “Celebrity Mascots Gone Wild.” He did not immediately return Manroom Magazine’s request for an interview, but in an email reply he simply stated, “I’ve moved on from that life, stop {expletive deleted} calling me.”