Calico Critters: Deluxe Village House

This is a long photo post about the project I worked on earlier this year. It's still not exactly finished or perfect, but here it is anyway. I had a conversation in the spring about Calico Critters (Sylvanian Families in other parts of the world) that made me want to dig out the 7 or 8 figures I had as a child. These toys are a little bit weird and I have written before about how I like vaguely creepy, unsettling animal toys. These particular toys had/have a massive fanbase outside of the US, and there's even a theme park in Japan! Anyway, I had a few of the dog-people and one really sad bear that I got from who even knows where. When I was about 11, I badly wanted the giant green-roofed house, probably because it seemed huge and the website boasted a selection of printable wallpaper that you could put in your house. I own that this is not a typical thing to maybe be obsessed with at that age, but I would also remind you of the following things:

1) I was very into building houses in The Sims at the time. That's pretty much all I did in The Sims, actually... rosebud for eternity and then build crazy mansions.

2) The idea of producing something with your computer, with your HOME PRINTER, that interacted with physical toys was a really new, exciting idea. Especially for a kid who just made stuff to play with all the time.

ANYWAY, I found the Deluxe Village House on Ebay for a reasonable price and in decent shape.  It's missing just a few pieces. The Calico Critter website still offers printable wallpaper, though not for this model anymore, and I even used the Wayback Machine to look at the old site's wallpaper. However, I knew I could do better. So, I did:

I used scrapbook paper and a combination of double-sided removable scrapbook tape and acid-free glue dots to secure the paper to the walls. Measuring was accomplished using a ruler to record the general measurements in cm (to the nearest whole or .5) of each side of each wall shape. I would look at each room and sketch the polygons of the wall panels and label each with a letter (on the drawing and on the wall on masking tape). Then, I drew out each of those measured shapes on tissue paper, and fit them against the wall, cutting it down or otherwise revising it to get closer to the actual wall shape. Then, I traced those tissue paper versions onto the final scrapbook paper. This worked pretty well, but cutting out windows was tough and it did not come out perfectly. These pictures try to focus on the house more than the occupants, though I did cave and take some photos of them interacting with the house a little.

The living room is done in red and you can see the divide for the dining room,
where the wallpaper changes.

The kitchen. It almost all fits in there. Curtains will probably be added to the
house later. For one thing, they will help hide the flaws around windows!

The kids' room is missing detailing, but I really like these walls!

The bathroom has a bright green textured wallpaper and this particular set
came with so many pieces that it looks nicely cluttered in a small space. It
actually won't all fit here.

The house is smaller than I thought it was and I decided to add some
walls to give the parents their own room.  Foamcore covered on
all sides in paper and wedged between floor and ceiling did the trick.

The nursery is a light blue with polka dot texture.

The rest of the bathroom furniture created a 2nd bathroom upstairs. This
floor is one of my favorite parts of the house!

The wall with attached sink fits perfectly. It blocks the toilet
from view, but you could still step around it to get into the room.

WHEN SALE: BUY THE THING

In many aspects of life, no one could accuse me of being an optimist, but with this blog content, I try to stay upbeat. This isn't really meant to be a serious, critical review space. If I don't like something, I won't buy it and I probably won't bother writing about it. However, even though I quite like the toy I'm writing about today, this post isn't wholly positive because I've got a bit of buyer's remorse going on here. You see, I bought 7 Zelfs last week. I feel now that this was probably too many Zelfs.

I have been watching Zelfs with some interest for a while.  They are bright and extremely similar to Trolls. I had wondered about their chances of success from the time I first heard about them because I was given a mini one for free with a Toys R Us order back in the fall, and that seemed like a bad omen.  A few months ago, when I wasn't really buying anything other than Calico Critters and LEGO, there was a buy one get one free on Zelfs at Toys R Us, which, by the way, is the only physical US store that officially carries them. I had the 2 I liked best in my hands (Garny & Snap Jack), but, horror of horrors, I put them back. In my experience, this is almost always a mistake (see: The Great Dog Saga). Since then, I hadn't found both of the Zelfs I wanted in the same store.  Actually, I hadn't seen one of them again at all.  Not a good sign for these critters, it seemed.

What could have been: Just the 2 of them, hanging out, eating plastic snacks...

This month, I noticed their display being invaded by another Moose brand toy, the Shopkins, at one store. At another, all the remaining Zelfs had actually been shuffled off to another aisle.  Being the perceptive collector I am, I decided it was time to buy one (since all of the remaining figures were one I had wanted) before they all disappeared.  

A bit of digging seems to indicate that these toys are on the way out.  At least, out of Toys R Us. Not wanting my lone Zelf to go friendless, I set out the next day to see if the last store in the area had any of the others I wanted. Somehow, I ended up with 5 more. AND THEN I bought the only reasonably priced Snap Jack I could find on Ebay because disappearing stock makes me panic! I have managed to stop there for now, knowing that I already have too many. (Where will they live? Will they eat all the Calico Critters' food? How will I put them all through college?)

Instead, I have to use something as a riser just to
 get them all in the picture!

The moral of the story is to buy the thing when the thing is on sale so that you don't buy 7 of the thing later for no good reason. 

The Great Dog Saga

Once upon a time, I received a book and audio cassette bundle for my birthday. Then, I opened another present a few minutes later that contained the exact same thing. I think this was my 5th birthday. ANYWAY, I was allowed to return one of them to the Kmart from whence it came, and as some sort of lesson about the value of money, I was only allowed to buy something with the refund money that was the same value. While this was a good learning opportunity and I totally see where my parents were coming from… they had no way of knowing what they had done. 

Being 5 (and being me), I wandered through the toy section to pick something out, and I found the first plush version of one of the puppies from the cinematic masterpiece that is Beethoven's 2nd that I had ever seen.  I needed it. I needed it more than anything else in the entire world. (We didn't have a dog yet, which was what I REALLY wanted, but I spent the first 7.5 years of my life being placated with plush dogs instead, which is what got me into this whole stuffed animal business in the first place...) But sadly, it was more expensive than my limit of money, so we left without it. It was also, and this is the important part, the only one on the shelf. 

After that, I didn't want to spend my money on anything else except this puppy, and I hoped that maybe another store would carry it at a lower price. In the pre-internet Stone Age, the only way to find this out was to go to all the stores and look. So, that's what we did. Over something like a $5 difference, my parents ended up driving all over the place and calling every toy store looking for this puppy. No success. No one else had any of the puppies.  It was starting to look like I had stumbled on the last one left in the city. (And now it makes sense-- we were trying to shop in Fall 1994 for a toy from a movie that was released in December 1993).  Eventually, it was agreed that we would just go back to the first Kmart and buy it because this quest was ridiculous, but when we went back, it was gone. When we did find one of the other puppies at another store later, we bought it immediately. However, the memory of the one that was impossible to find basically haunted us all. When we went to Universal Studios a full 2 years later, and found a version of Dolly, we bought her on sight. 

Universal Studios Dolly

When my sister left the country, she brought me back a vaguely St. Bernard-looking plush puppy, and vaguely tried to pass it off as the international version of the puppy I still wanted.  For another Christmas, a puppy that was clearly some sort of spaniel was given to me, with the logic that it looked sort of like the missing puppy.

This is totally a St. Bernard, right?

Of course, now I have 2 of the 3 plush puppies from that line (Kenner!) thanks to Ebay. So, it's not really about the puppy anymore. …Though it does upset me that they never produced the 4th puppy ( poor Chubby). What I did get from this saga is twofold; a love/hate obsession with the QUEST aspect of finding the "holy grail" toys… which often makes the hunt for the object more fun than actually owning it, and more perilous to my wallet, a massive paranoia about deciding not to buy something and having it then disappear FOREVER. 

Still no Mo. SOMEDAY!

And that fear, dear readers, is how you end up buying 7 Zelfs in 1 week.

Autobots, transform and...cuddle?

This blog keeps getting ignored for many reasons; none of them particularly good. Apologies to my reader!

Just briefly, while Transformers 4 is still in theaters, I want to highlight my favorite Transformers thing that I own. Granted, I don't really have a lot of objects to choose from, but I'm pretty sure that this would be my favorite even if I did. I give you: Slumblebee

This is a 2007 plush, yet still transformable, version of Bumblebee produced for the first live action film.  I love this thing! Most Transformers toys cannot be described as huggable, so I quite like this toy's ability to do something different with a character who is more likely to be metal and pointy. He was a birthday present and he spends most of his time as a robot, which makes his car form a bit rumpled, but that's okay.

They also produced Softimus Prime!

Labbits

 Let's talk about big kid toys. I don't have much in the way of collectible toys (aimed at adult collectors rather than children), but possibly my favorite of the ones I do own are from Kid Robot. Specifically, I love Frank Kozik's Happy Labbits. My labbit was a gift several years ago from a friend. We first saw them in our local record store and not long after that, Evan the labbit was given to me. There are several versions of this figure, each having a different selection of objects that can be placed in its mouth. Mine has a popsicle, a hot dog, a bit of plant, and a gas mask.

 I much prefer Happy Labbits over Smorkin' Labbits, but they all have their charms, I suppose. While we're on the subject of labbits, I have a small plush blind box one as well. As you can see, it's purple and has a mustache. I see from the website that they have expanded the facial hair offerings of labbits to beards as well as mustaches. I confess that I prefer my original vinyl labbit.



 Kid Robot also sells the Yummy World (formerly Yummy Breakfast/Dessert) of Heidi Kenney. I have one of these as well: a small, fuzzy strawberry. I admit that in buying this blind box, I was hoping to acquire the waffle, but they are all pretty cute for sentient food toys.

Pop? POP!

The downward spiral of collecting is the phrase "well, maybe just one won't hurt." Sometimes I look at the list of Funko POP! figures I think I would like to have and I wonder how much longer it will be before they all invade my house and refuse to part with their nice, very space-consuming boxes. Currently, I have just one POP figure. I've been watching this trend for a while, seeing Funko end up with more and more character licenses. Some of them are cute, some of them are creepy, but they are certainly very popular. Their distinctive beady (usually black) eyes are certainly a big part of what gives them their charm and/or their creepiness factor, depending on your perspective. After much consideration, following the uttering the phrase "well, maybe just one won't hurt," I settled on the newly released Ghost from the 3rd series of Game of Thrones figures (#19).

I'm not finished with the book series yet, but I'm fond of the Starks and their wolves, and choosing red-eyed Ghost as my (first? only??) POP figure was easy. I have to admit that I am quite pleased with him. He is not a bobble head, but you can change his head's positioning. The detail in his fur is great, and he has nice balance despite his seemingly top-heavy design. (back) I admit that he's the kind of toy that is tempting model for photo expeditions (small, sturdy, distinctive). I don't know how long Ghost will be the only POP figure in my collection, but I'm quite pleased with him!

Animagic...al

Sometimes I go to toy stores and I find something for $5 that I know absolutely nothing about and still have to buy immediately. This is how I acquired a pack of Animagic Rescue Pets. The website for the brand is here. Animagic comes to us from the UK's Vivid Toys and Games.

The pack gives you 5 plastic animals, all of which feature an "injury" spot that disappears with the application of heat (AKA your finger).  I was drawn to these toys mostly for the rabbit, and I sorted through the sets to find which other pets besides that particular rabbit I liked the best.  This particular cat and dog sold me on this package.  The sets are assorted, rather than being figures #1-5 in package A, #6-10 in package B etc.  The reverse side of the packaging lists all the possible pets.

This earns an A in packaging from me! Always tell the customers what the options are!!

It looks like I've gotten Flopsy, Daisy, Millie, and Biscuit.  You can probably count, so you may notice that this is only 4 pets rather than 5.  That's because the 5th one is the real reason I had to buy this set: it's hiding in this box:

This little cardboard carrier has a lot of detail printed on it and surely would provide a lot of play value after it has stopped serving its purpose as a blind box.  Fun fact: I can very nearly get all 5 of the animals in this box, though not while it's closed! Let's find out what's in the mystery box...

Yep, it's a pink, metallic rabbit!  I was a bit surprised to find this waiting for me inside the box, but I'm pleased with it.  It also makes me wonder if all of the mystery pets are metallic and/or pink.  I quite like this set, though I think the scale of the horse/pony is a bit strange, and I do wonder about the wisdom of the color changing injuries (i.e. if the discoloration were activated by cold and removed with heat, the animals could appear healthy during normal play, rather than injured UNLESS heat is applied).  The commercial for them is here.

Tiny, Squishy Squinkies

I resisted Squinkies for a long time. No, really, I did.  They are small and there are lots of characters and licenses in the line, which is normally like a siren song for me, but I held out for a while.  Until I stumbled on the Pixar animal pack.  Oddly, the piece that made me HAVE TO BUY this is the one piece OF COURSE I couldn't find for photos: the balloon basket from Up!

Kevin and Dug!  Plus Nemo, Squirt, Flick, and Atta

And once I had these in my hands, I spotted another pack of Disney creatures, so they came with me, too.  I am not the most hardcore Disney fanatic, but a lot of the animal-centric movies were my childhood favorites, as well as all the toys made to go with them.  You should see my 101 Dalmatians collection...

Squinkies come in tiny spheres that are easy to open and close. They are vaguely reminiscent of the clear plastic bubbles that vending machine toys tend to come in; a similarity which Blip Toys hasn't ignored, producing a number of bubblegum machine type storage toys for these figures.  The major difference is that vending machine bubbles are never easy to open and close. (So many childhood finger injuries...)

The bubbles are sometimes solid colors, allowing for surprises. It's easy to see why kids like these.  They are small and bright, with a squishy-soft feel and vaguely tacky surface. They are just the kind of toy that's easy to lose and difficult to keep free of pet hair, and I love them.

My Marvel Squinkies

MY favorite thing about them is the many licenses and characters, which are all produced at vaguely the same scale.  Now, LEGO is the reigning champion of that prized quality, in my book, but I enjoy it in other toys as well.  It lets me do things like this...

The details tend to be a little imperfect, but that's okay. I like them as they are, and part of the main draw for me is that I don't think I owned a lot of these character in other forms, so I'm quite happy with these!

Pro-Doh

It's time for the first post in a series!  All of these will be about toys I played with as a child that I want to highlight. In particular, I want to talk about some toys that I never see mentioned online.  I'm starting with Pro-Doh!

Front of the box for the Playful Animals set, which was purchased on
clearance at Toys R Us for $4.99 circa 1997.

From the makers of Play-Doh (so, Hasbro), Pro-Doh existed briefly in the mid-90s (as far as I know).  The premise was that the kit contained white, air-drying clay that you used with a plastic mold to make your own figures. It was white so that you could decorate the figures with markers.

Playful Animals Pro-Doh set mold, creates 6 different figures
 (2 dogs, 2 cats, mouse, and parrot)

You also got a plastic playset scene and a play mat that went with your creations.  There were 3 versions of this kit described on the box.  The other 2 were a house/dollhouse and a castle.

Essentially, Pro-Doh was part toy, part craft. I know I haven't really gotten to talking about some of my other major favorites, like original Littlest Pet Shop, but just take my word for it that figural animal toys are my favorites. So, this set was really perfect. You could create new toys whenever you felt like it...at least, until the Pro-Doh ran out.  Though later I used the mold to make animals out of polymer clay, which you can't color on with markers, but it's certainly more durable and less prone to cracking. This is a really great set and it was definitely worth its clearance price! I'd love to see something like this make a comeback.  

Bonus photo: some of my creations:

I would like to think I've gotten better at coloring since then.

Furby Boom: First Impressions

Today, my brand new Furby Boom arrived at my door. I would like to point out that I held out for months on buying one, and also that I found a giftcard, which I put towards picking up one of the cheaper colors (and I am all for choosing your favorite out of any toy line, but for $10, I just couldn't spend it). So, 2nd favorite color choice it was:

I haven't devoted much time to it yet, so here are my first thoughts.

• The new app has a lot of features, and I like that it wants to explain how to play, but I really wanted a skip button for a lot of it. I just tried to chant "target market" in my head. Obviously more explanation is good for actual children.  Still though, I think I would have preferred to stumble through it trial-and-error style as kid.

• The plush fur quality is not equal to that of Furby 2012. Boom sheds a bit and it is less pleasant to touch.

• I don't love the plastic feet. Not an upgrade.

• The interactions with the physical Furbling toy are well-done. I don't think my 2012 gets along with his Party Rocker friend quite so well, though this might be my lack of patience for letting the Party Rocker be awake...

• Boom and 2012 definitely respond to each other, seemingly about as well as two 2012 furbies.  Though perhaps this is just my lack of knowledge of Furbish.

• Time will tell, I'm sure.  They are definitely similar toys and I will try to stop comparing them.  My 2012 furby is perfect and how do you improve on perfection??

Best Things: will play with 2012 Furby, app has lots to do, Furblings are great, good packaging

Worst Things: plush fur downgrade (shedding), App wants you to name it in Furbish (#nope)