Wow, sorry for abandoning this thread for so long...
Thanks for your replies, guys!
...I can remember lying next to my plushie of Mushu from Mulan or next to my plushie of Kaa from The Jungle Book, and imagining the "real character" sleeping right next to me. I still do that to some extent with my Cars plushies.
When I saw the movie "Ferngully" for the first time, I became obsessed with Batty, the bat voiced by Robin Williams....I wanted him to scoop me up in his long, cape - like wings so we could hang upside down from a tree and nap together, lol. I remember wishing I could find an official plushie of the character, to no avail, until the Ty Beanie Babies company released a Beanie Baby bat they simply called "Batty." At the time, my stepdad was bribing me with Beanie Babies in order to get me to try new foods (I only ate literally a handful of foods back when I was 6) and after trying some scrambled eggs for the first time and eating them with relish (part of the reason why I didn't like to try new foods was mostly bcuz texture was such a big issue for me, and bcuz I simply didn't know how GOOD everything tasted yet) my mom and stepdad took me to a Hallmark, and I walked over to the Battys in the Beanie Baby section and grabbed the first one I saw.
So, the Beanie Baby bat became "Batty" to me...even tho he didn't look anything like the movie character. I guess I sort of "pretended" he was the character, tho, and he was one of my favorite plushies growing up. He went everywhere with me, and I loved his wings bcuz the velcro strips on them allowed him to cling to things...and his wings were big enough to hug my face. ^^ Years later, I bought a mint Batty BB with the heart tag, and the tie - dye version of him at a flea market. I also found an official Batty plush with a vinyl head and plush body on Ebay a couple years ago, too. The Beanie Baby bat will always be my "real" Batty, tho.
My original Batty's the one in front, and the "new" Batty is in the back doing a "Dracula" pose so people can see his tag....
Which brings up another question...were there any characters (like animal characters) that you wanted plushies of that they didn't make, so you ended up having to make one of your own (which I have done a couple of times) or make do with a similar plush?
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I wish Sterling Holloway narrated my life.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" "Life isn't fair, Calvin." "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in MY favor?" ~ from Calvin and Hobbes