Welcome to the Toy Collection Shrine!
Rec. music: FM Kids (MusMus), Tea or Caffee? (MusMus)
I loved playing with cute small toys and plushes as a kid, and when I grew up I started collecting more and more of them. They are such an interesting craft and I like seeing the designs and gimicks they come up with. I like toys that have some sort of interactivity the most, like moving parts, transforming, color changing, etc.
Magic Mixies Mixlings
Current collection includes Seasons 1 and 2 (Powers Unleashed), 31 total
These were just too cute to pass up on, even though I don't really like surprise toys because you can never be sure you're getting the ones you want. I think their design is very cute and it manages not to appear too homogenous despite the similarities between each toy. Plus they have interactivity! They came with wands that indicated which kinds of things they did. Some would transform, change their face, or grow wings with a magnetic wand, some glow in the dark, and some become transparent when pouring hot water on them.
The Powers Unleashed series is an improvement. The designs and colors are much cuter and more appealing. They make more of an effort to not have the pallete swaps be exactly the same. They improved the powers too. The glow-in-the-darks now have their whole bodies glow, they added beads in the invisible ones in exchange for not being full body anymore, and the eyes changers now have their whole face change. The fliers are the same, and they replaced morphing with a spell reveal. They separate their arms to reveal a little push-up charm.
I reeeaaaalllyyy wanted Zindle and Magique, but Zindle is a "Limited Edition" (extremely rare) and like I said, these are surprise toys, you don't know what you get until after you buy them. Magique comes with a castle playset which I don't want and costs $34 USD. But I found a way to get her >.>.
Squirkies
"Top, left to right: Curly Chameleon, Switchy Scorpion, Pop Tube Puppy, Spin Fin Axolotl, Jiggles Jellyfish, Squish n' Fish Bottom, left to right: Twirly Whirly Hedgehog, Squiggly Snake, Clickety Cat, Toggle Turtle, Pop Bop Butterfly, Cheeky Pop Monkey"
These are fidget toys that are animal shaped. So unlike most toys I collect, they have a functional purpose for me, as a person who fidgets and stims. And they are just darn cute! The designs stand out from other Little Live Pets because they are more cartoony without also trying to appear somewhat realistic. They come in multiple varieties too, with different fidget motions, so it's not like, all pallette swaps (though they do have those too, 2 colors per pet). And they are only ~$5 for a single, and are NOT a surprise toy. These are literally perfect for me!
I have collected all of them. It was really hard to find these at all, actually? I don't recall hearing they were super popular or anything but I don't know what toys are trendy right now anyway. I went to 3 different Walmarts just to find the ones I have. And unfortunately ebay scalpers sell new ones for 4x the retail price! For the hedgehog and scorpion, I had to pay those inflated prices because there was absolutely NO other option.
I got a metallic Pop Tube Pup mainly cause that 3 pack had 2 other pets I didn't get yet. And I also got the golden Cheeky Pop Monkey, which came in the mystery pack. I only git a mystery pack because it was all Target had left. The chances are 1/3, that's hardly ultra rare. I'm not complaining though.
Tails
Miles Prower, Tails, Miles "Tails" Prower, Tails the Fox, Mr. Prower, and some weird fox freak, I can't remember his name.
Because I like him so much, I ended up having multiple toys with him... some of them were specifically for drawing references, and others were just me making poor monetary decisions. ^^" Most of these are from Jakks Pacific. I think they did the figure toys ok. They have kind of small hands, it probably works better for a toy. I am confused about the 30th anniversary colors... I don't think it's referencing anything. My friend and I thought it was a bootleg, and when I actually saw it in a store I thought I was hallucinating.
Jakks also did the plush on the right. It's just ok. I like Tomy's better on the left. It's much cuter, fluffier, and has more puppetable limbs including the tails. Maybe I'll check out Great Eastern's plush someday.
Zoobles
Picture Incoming...
I've wanted these toys since they came out around 2010, but never managed to get my hands u=on them until over a decade later, via ebay autions. Now I have a decent enough collection. The reason I eanted them so much was that they were basically a cute version of Bakugan, and I love toys that transform in some way. Plus they're small and easy to fit in your pckect and bring around anywhere so I could use them for stimming in public.
My favorite ones are the larger, parental ones that have a little baby fit into them. I think that was a pretty creative use of the ball format. The ones from McDonalds are interesting? They don't have the magnet anymore, so you just press a button for them to open up. It's not quite as fun as a magnet and they are a but tacky looking but I'd probably have liked it as a kid anyway.
Oh ALSO, they sell a new line of Zoobles only in the UK! Unfair! I had to get them via Amazon. They're really cool too. The larger ones have two modes, one animal and one human. And the smaller ones have motifs like rainbows and monochrome.