You may recall me mentioning recently about sometimes having to settle for similar types of items when trying to re-acquire toys from childhood, rather than exact duplicates which may be difficult or impossible to locate. When I was around 3 or 4 (maybe 5), among the Yogi Bear items I owned were the following three: a Hallowe'en mask, a pair of slippers, and an inflatable 'Punch' Yogi. (Luckily, I did manage to replace a Marx Toys Yogi on a scooter and walking toy I'd also owned.)
The first was a shaped mask (not flat), made, I think, of paper mache (it felt like a cardboard eggbox), the second, a pair of traditional slippers with Yogi's head (not a flat picture, but an actual 3D head) on the top front of each slipper, and the last was an inflatable for the purpose of punching, then watching it bounce back up. (You had to put sand in the base to give it weight.)
Anyway, although I was able to obtain exact replacements for the other Yogi merchandise of my youth, those three have so far proved elusive, so I've contented myself with similar types of each item. A while back I managed to get a modern plastic mask, and recently a modern pair of slippers (which actually fit me), and today I received an inflatable 'Bop Bag' to complete the trio. So even if I don't have doppelganger replacements, I do have the same sort of items, which are better than hee-haw!
Anyway, thought you might like to see them, so here's one new pic of the inflatable and slippers, plus 'some I made earlier' of the mask. I won't give up on replacing my originals one day, but should it never happen, I can enjoy a measure of satisfaction from having the same type of items I had as a kid, so I'm a happy chappie. Right, I'm just off to punch the bejabbers out of Bop Bag Yogi. Oh, what fun.
(Update: Have now managed to acquire the cardboard mask.)
I remember seeing a yogi bear punch bag fully inflated in a toy shop back in the early sixties. I gave it an almighty punch and was immediately told off by my mother. Needless to say we went home punchbagless. Andrew L
ReplyDeleteAt least she didn't punch you. I wonder if it was the same sort as I had?
ReplyDeleteOne day mine just wasn't there anymore. Maybe it sprang a leak and was quietly disposed of, but I don't remember my parents informing me of its fate.
The only Yogi Bear mask had as a kid along with a Huckleberry Hound one was from the backs of Kellogg's breakfast cereal boxes. I had to make the eye openings wider apart than marked as they were designed for younger kids.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw them back in the day, T47 - may even have had the Yogi one, can't quite recall. I used to murder a bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the mornings - does that make me a cereal killer?
ReplyDeleteFor me, getting something similar to the original product is preferable to getting an exact duplicate. As you know, Kid, I wouldn't want an exact duplicate because it can never be the object I once owned but something similar to the original object is fine.
ReplyDeleteHonest, CJ, the mind is easily fooled. An exact duplicate is easy to regard as the original in a fairly short time, sometimes even immediately. Trust me, it's happened so often in my case that I know it to be true. Similar things are good too, but in a slightly different way.
ReplyDelete