I don't know if its apparent by now, but I was kind of a strange kid. :D Sure, I had other toys, but when it was time to play, that play gravitated not around guns or cars, but instead around the collection of soft toys my brother and I had amassed over the years. This involved attributing names and personalities to a bunch of teddies, and eventually voices, as this activity finally culminated in afternoon-spanning 'TV broadcasts' that were just a tinch inspired by seeing Muppets Tonight on TV.
As much as I wish that there was footage of, what I seem to remember being called Fluffy TV, sadly all I have left is hazy memories of it at this point. The titular Fluffies themselves do still survive though. During a tidy-up of my parents' attic a few years ago, I smuggled them out. And, even though I don't really remember the specifics of each one at this point, I thought it'd be fun to take a look at them anyway.
Let's meet the Fluffies!
Now these guys, I do remember. Here we have Dada Fluffy on the left and Mama Fluffy on the right. So, obviously, they're both the same monkey toy. My brother and I both got one as very young children.
I'm guessing he wasn't old enough to play with his at the time, but I made full use of mine, sleeping on it all the time, and thus transforming it into the dumpy-looking Dada Fluffy: a kind of beaten-down, grumpy patriarch over the whole Fluffy clan, if memory serves.
Mama Fluffy I remember as being a nicer, but also kind of naggy figure. So you know, strong female characters on Fluffy TV.
These two though I don't remember the specifics of at all. The blue bear on the right would have been a slightly more recent addition to the cast than most here. I suspect it came from a gift shop at some point. The little panda on the left though was one of the OG Fluffies though. I remember having him even as a tiny kid.
I can only speculate that his name was some riff on 'panda' given his shirt here: monogrammed by me, I'm sure. You know, the more I look at him in that shirt though, the more he looks kind of like a movie mafioso here. If was doing a gritty Zack Snyder reboot, he'd definitely be some kind of mob boss this time.
Just look at that cold-ass motherfucker.
Launching a surprise attack on our bear friends here though is... this: some weird character Fyffes had marketing bananas to children here for a hot second in the 90's.
This thing's character design may not have been it's strong point, but the way it could be turned inside out from this velcro seam on the back to form a plush banana was pretty awesome.
And here's where I'd segue into a standalone picture of that banana, if I had remembered to take one. :D
Speaking of toys with weird dual roles, it's only Mickey Mouse himself: who is part soft toy...
... part.. pyjama holder? His mid section is totally hollow, designed for you to stuff pyjamas, or something, in through a velcro slot in his back. Were these a thing? What an strange concept. Then again if Disney will slap Star Wars characters on literally anything, why not? :D
I guess in case he forgot.
While Mickey was never used for his intended purpose, he certainly had a starring role on Fluffy TV, blatant copyright infringement be dammed. You can't content ID claim my memories, Disney!
Yet.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Okay, so the rest of the Fulffy clan I still have. This guy: nope! I didn't want this accursed object anywhere near me, also known as Larry the Leprechaun. He wasn't always the harbinger of damnation that he is here though. I think he came from a souvenir shop in the nearest town. I remember a cousin in the US wanted my parents to send them a leprechaun at some point. I guess they bought one for us too, because somehow we ended up with this. Well not THIS; this is a whole lot of grime, and real eyes being replaced with pins later. *shudder*
Speaking of souvenirs, here's yet more tourist bait we somehow acquired. Yeah, this one I don't remember any details of: where it came from, or what role it played in the greater Fluffy narrative. I think it was kind of my brother's, and I do remember it got burned on a cooker at one point: you can kind of still see the black patch on it's right leg here.
Who are these two affable chaps, you might ask. To which I would reply 'how dare you, you horrendous sexist!'. Despite being blue, I'm almost certain the elephant here was a girl called Elly. Fluffy TV turning gender coding on its head.
This was a dude though for sure.
Just look at that chill, bro-y energy. He was also definitely an alien. For reasons unknown.
I don't think this weird rune I drew on his tummy had anything to do with that though, or had any significance in general. I was probably just bored one day.
This is another very old one. I think one of our uncles got this for us when he was visiting London. Though not strictly a soft toy I'm pretty sure this guy popped up now and then in the 'show'. Ha ha, quite literally popped up, because it had a string that you could pull and it'd bob up and down while music played. Oh, hilarity.
And already we come to the end of the Fluffy TV cast. The rest of the toys including these ones came after things 'wrapped' I'm pretty certain.
Not really sure how or why the show came to an end. I probably just got bored of it. Can't speak to the nature of the finale either. Were they dead all along? Was Daddy Fluffy's special ability built up over the course of multiple seasons only for his sole function to turn out to be pulling out a giant stop cork? Answer: yes, and certainly not - who would squander such an incredible build-up for something so obviously lame.
Where did these two come from though? I think the leprechaun I got from the souvenir shop in Bunratty Castle in Co. Clare on a school trip in 1996. The pig, I don't know, but it looks like a fun fair prize, which I'm guessing it was.
The one: also no idea. Though I imagine it'd feature as another alien had the show gone on for another season.
And lastly: these guys. Again, no idea where they're even from. Though they certainly look like fun fair spoils too.
Oh! But wait! There were another two that prominently featured on Fluffy TV. Sadly they're no longer with us though: they eventually fell apart. I guess that's non-licensed, cheap raffle prizes for you, but these two were major stars of the show, if I remember correctly.
Our parents won these two at, again, a fun fair, probably around '93 or '94. Despite having never seen The Simpsons back then - exclusive to pay TV, which we didn't have - I was certainly able to identify Bart; he was still being plastered on just about anything that could conceivably be sold over here at the time. I had no idea what he sounded like though, or what his personality was, so I made him, well..., Austrian. :D He would say "YAH!" in a very Arnie-like accent. I have no idea why. I had even less exposure to Arnie than the Simpsons, and zero exposure to Austria. I'm guessing it came from another character in a cartoon or something.
The Scrooge nephew here I don't remember characterizing at all. Maybe I didn't, because he was my brother's. A quick search reveals that this is Huey, which I'm pretty sure the first time I've ever known that information. Despite watching Duck Tales, I don't think either of us knew one nephew from the other (should have made one of them Austrian, Disney). We just took a stab in the dark an went with Louie for this guy.
And those are the Fluffies, everyone. I wish there was any footage of Fluffy TV, but sadly we never even had a camcorder growing up. I'm suspect it'd be insufferable and near-incomprehensible now, but I still think it'd be kind of fun to see. ♪Fluffy TV. Fluffy TV.♪ Oh right! That was like, the interstitial jingle between segments!
Yeah, like I said: strange kid. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment