A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to take these little plushies out from their boxes and give them an airing. They'd been kept in the storeroom for way too long.
I love soft toys.
I have a good number of them.
And I'm not afraid to say that I keep a collection of them at home, and at the office.
Yes, some might balk at the fact that I keep plushies at the office, but for goodness sakes, I'm in an industry where toys of all kinds are characters that are made into franchises and then sold, and where toys have much more value than childish stuffed objects meant to be confined only to the nursery or the playroom.
That's not to say that one doesn't strike a balance.
You can love every stuffed toy that comes along your way, or the adult part of you can decide that toys are valuable as long as they have a story, a significance and a tale.
And if they are collectibles.
The stuffed camel is a collectible.
For the reason that Universal Studios Singapore does not have the same stuffed camel on the shelves at The Mummy Ride anymore. I love stuffed animals that look like real animals, ie the camel must look like a camel with the right color, a wombat must look like a wombat with the right color, and a dolphin must look like a dolphin and if it is supposed to be a bottlenose dolphin, then it has to be grey. With a bottlenose. So, anyway, I'd gone to USS a few years ago and right after coming out from the not-so-scary The Mummy Ride, in the merchandise store was a shelf full of these camels.
They all had the cutest eyes- and they all had fluffy fur!
So I got one and named him Humpffff.... :)
Disney's Winnie The Pooh has been one of my favorite Disney characters for the longest time. Maybe about 20 over years thereabouts? No, I'm not a latecomer to the joys of cartoons and animation, but as much as cartoon characters have always charmed me, few of them have held as much sway over me as Disney's Winnie The Pooh has.
It's hard to explain.
Maybe it is the smile.
Maybe it is the story.
Maybe it is the simplicity that Pooh Pooh carries throughout his/her daily life and the simplicity he/she exudes when handling the issues that crop up in the day by day. I like to think that Pooh Pooh has a happy, joyful perspective of life. I like to think that Pooh Pooh sees life as something worth living for, and though he/she does get distracted from time to time (butterflies!) he/she treats each day in Hundred Acre Wood as an adventure.
Sure, there is a psychological depth to Winnie The Pooh, and to each of the characters that dwell in Hundred Acre Wood, but they're so adorable that I really don't care what they represent and love them for what they are.
Honestly, for me, I just love his/her smile- and the hunny pot.
Toys do go beyond pure merchandise.
They can, and are mementos.
Not of relationships, as one usually assumes, but of seasons, and occasions that mark time. Two of my toys here are mascot mementos of two respective hotels.
The frog, named Toots, was the mascot of Shangri La's Rasa Sentosa Resort on Sentosa Island. Up to a few years ago, their shuttle bus in and out of Sentosa had a large picture of the frog mascot on it and so was nicknamed the Toots Bus. Toots is still the mascot of the hotel (I think!) but they don't give out this toy very much anymore.
The other is whom I call the Conrad Bear, a memento that speaks of, naturally, Conrad Centennial Singapore. The Conrad Bear is a mascot of the hotel worldwide, and every room will have the bear as part of their hospitality towards their guests. But beyond this being a Conrad Bear, this is a Conrad Christmas Bear given out only during the Christmas season. They're particularly proud about their Christmas bears, by the way. If you drop in the lobby during Christmas season, chances are you'll find a 'tree' created with large-sized and small-sized Conrad Christmas Bears stacked up high. It's a most adorable sight. Ironically, when it was that I went to Conrad for a Christmas stay, I no longer remember. And If I hadn't this bear with me now as a reminder, I probably would not have known that I'd once stayed there at Christmas at all.
I'm particular about the smile on my toys the same way I'm particular about the color and design of the toy.
Toys do go beyond pure merchandise.
They can, and are mementos.
Not of relationships, as one usually assumes, but of seasons, and occasions that mark time. Two of my toys here are mascot mementos of two respective hotels.
The frog, named Toots, was the mascot of Shangri La's Rasa Sentosa Resort on Sentosa Island. Up to a few years ago, their shuttle bus in and out of Sentosa had a large picture of the frog mascot on it and so was nicknamed the Toots Bus. Toots is still the mascot of the hotel (I think!) but they don't give out this toy very much anymore.
The other is whom I call the Conrad Bear, a memento that speaks of, naturally, Conrad Centennial Singapore. The Conrad Bear is a mascot of the hotel worldwide, and every room will have the bear as part of their hospitality towards their guests. But beyond this being a Conrad Bear, this is a Conrad Christmas Bear given out only during the Christmas season. They're particularly proud about their Christmas bears, by the way. If you drop in the lobby during Christmas season, chances are you'll find a 'tree' created with large-sized and small-sized Conrad Christmas Bears stacked up high. It's a most adorable sight. Ironically, when it was that I went to Conrad for a Christmas stay, I no longer remember. And If I hadn't this bear with me now as a reminder, I probably would not have known that I'd once stayed there at Christmas at all.
I'm particular about the smile on my toys the same way I'm particular about the color and design of the toy.
It is subjective, of course, but a well-sewn smile does determine the value of the toy when perceived in the sense of beauty, but that being said, sometimes an awkward, lopsided smile on a stuffed toy can bring as much comfort to someone as a well-sewn one.