Toys as a special interest

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How many of you have toys as a special interest? Share your story

Hi, Jen!! Good to see you again - I missed seeing you here! How are you? How is Justin, your therapy bear?

I absolutely have toys as one of my special interests...more specifically, plushies, My Little Pony, Calico Critters, Blue Nose Friends, and die cast cars and planes. With my plushies...see, to me, plushies have always been like my "friends;" ever since I was a little kid. I've had social anxiety all my life, and my plushies have sort of ensured that I haven't had to live my life in complete loneliness. In practically every photo of me from ages birth to at least 12 I have at least one or two plushies with me in them, whether it was Baby Bop, Simba, Snoopy or my big, talking Barney. Even as an adult, I still carry at least two plushies with me in my shoulder bag. Right now they're my dolphin, Dory, and my Finding Nemo plushie who also happens to be Dory (but I spell her name "Dorie" so the two don't get confused ). Dory and Dorie are good friends.

The My Little Ponies I collect used to be Gen 1s and Gen 3s, but I never really cared that much for Gen 3, even though I thought Gen 1 was great. I've given most of my Gen 3s away, but I still have most of my Gen 1 ponies from the 80s. My dad and I used to go to this flea market out in this really peaceful rural area and I'd usually come home with two or three vintage ponies (I wasn't around during the 80s - it's one of my biggest regrets - so I got my Gen 1s that way). The place literally had a ton of them. Nowadays, I collect Gen 4 MLP stuff....mostly Fluttershy-related items.

I don't have that many Calico Critters - just one of the family sets (which are freakin' EXPENSIVE) some babies, a couple random Sylvanian Families kids I found online, and that's it - but I cherish the ones I do have. My favorite ones are the ones my therapist has given me: A little Fisher Cat girl and a set of baby meerkats, all of which are some of my comfort items, along with the Dorys.

As for Blue Nose Friends...as far as I know, they're an import from the UK, and are available on a somewhat limited basis here in the US. The only place I've been able to find any is Barnes and Noble. I have Blossom the bunny, Eduardo the axolotl, an elephant, Konker the hedgehog, a kangaroo, Gum gum the Koala, Scuba the dolphin, and Truffles the pig - who is my favorite because she's the first one I bought. I saw her 2 years ago in a Barnes and Noble and just fell in love with her soft fur, her little round head and her heart-shaped nose.

As with my plushies, I feel a special connection towards my die cast cars and planes. They are mostly die cast toys of the characters from Disney/Pixar's Cars and Planes movies. I also used to buy Matchbox, Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning cars from stores and glued "eyes" to the windshields and give them names and personalities. I actually became sort of obsessive about this - no car that I owned could be without "eyes." My collection of cars has gotten me through some very difficult times, like my plushies have. They're like "friends" to me, too. My favorite die cast is one I have of Susie, Disney's first anthro car character from the 50's. She's also one of my comfort items.

I also have three Tangle Toys, too - I think they're fantastic as sensory toys and for coping with anxiety. Once I get to playing with one of mine, I can't put it down. I have a fuzzy one and two plastic ones....I plan to give the third to somebody who needs it, if I ever meet them. My Tangles have really helped me retain focus and to not pick at and bite my nails when I am anxious, bored, or under-stimulated.

....I collect too many things.

Hi - No, toys as special interest, but I do have my toys to play with when I get stressed out.

And hi LtlPinkCoupe!

I love toys! Especially plushies, barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, and dolls.

I love toys! I swear I am mentally still a child in so many ways; sometimes my wife refers to me as her other child.

I have two special interests. I love love love Legos. Lego Star Wars to be exact. My first set was the second generation Millennium Falcon (7965) that I received three years ago. I sat down and put all 1254 pieces together in a few hours without even moving once. I had recaptured one of my favorite toys of my youth!! Since then, I've bought sets regularly; I use my monthly slush fund on Legos. I recently bought the second generation Sandcrawler (7965) and its 3269 pieces were the best three days of the year. What's most important to me about the Legos are how they make me feel. I get super relaxed. I usually play with them every day--I take a set, break it down, and then build it back up again--and the days that I don't I feel completely messed up and lost. I need my Legos; there's just something about the way they feel in my hands as the bumps move across my finger tips that is so stimulating to me--almost like small pulses of electricity as I take hundreds of small seemingly incongruent pieces and put them together to make an incredible model.